The Baby Seals – Irene (Trapped Animal)
Announcing a forthcoming live album Cambridgeshire feminist garage punks The Baby Seals share all powerful and marvellously moody single Irene
Artist: The Baby Seals
Track: Irene
Label: Trapped Animal
Release date: 8 September 2026
Find it: YouTube
Cambridgeshire garage punks The Baby Seals more often serve us deliciously witty slices of feminist-driven freneticism, but with single Irene they give us the no-less powerful but more serious slow-burn of endurance, as the splendour of creativity and connection is explored.
Released to coincide with the announcement of a live album (Live At The Portland Arms) the track was originally called Ode To Irene’s Cunt, before being re-titled for radio friendliness. It references surrealist erotic novel Le Con d’Irène, about a man’s relationship with an imaginary vulva.
What The Baby Seals turn that into is a reverb-laden bass-heavy hymn to destruction and creation, the symbiotic relationship between the two states. It places it as part of the natural world, leans in to our primal animalistic side, and gives us something melodically hypnotic to lose ourselves in.
‘You’re a wave in the sea / you’re water / you’re matter / you matter’
Kerry from the band said, “There’s a quote that I love: ‘you don’t have the power, you ARE the power’. When I gave birth to my son, I did it on breath alone, and I was in water (and pressing my clitoris—it sends pain relief to your body when in labour(!)) so it was a pretty magnificent centering primitive experience.
“I’ve always felt connected to water, I don’t know if that’s a universal experience we all have but I’ve always felt that. We’re in the era of division, disinformation and polarization. It’s more important than ever to remind myself to focus on our oneness, our similarities rather than our differences.
“Parenting also throws another slant; how do I explain the things that don’t make sense, to stay in the lane of truth when it can swing from being maddeningly obvious to abstract? We can all be a mother to ourselves, to our true nature, which is inherently peaceful and unconditional, and knowing our true nature is always available to us. So, it’s keeping hold of that in the current world; knowing that we are not separate from nature and trying to put that into a song.”
Less a change of direction for the band and more an evolution. Irene bears down on the heavy-undertones the band has carried, and turns surrealist wit into otherwordly allure.
Irene by The Baby Seals is out digitally now. Live album Live At The Portland Arms is set to follow on 16 October 2026 via label Trapped Animal.
Find The Baby Seals: Instagram | Facebook | Website | YouTube
Image: Jeff Pitcher
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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