We Speak Music
Katie Dauson Will Have You Nodding Along to ‘Will You Won’t You’
Toronto singer-songwriter Katie Dauson returns with “Will You Won’t You,” a spirited, high-flying single sure to keep any listener moving. Always eager to explore the sounds of generations past, Dauson takes a valiant stab here at 1950s rockabilly. “Will You Won’t You” is a worthy homage to the bygone genre, a synthesis of modern energy and vintage flair. The single bursts with passion and leaves listeners hooked nodding along to the beat.
“Will You Won’t You” sees Dauson inspired by 1950s rockabilly, especially groups like The Crickets, and she echoes the 1970s revivalists like Blondie and George Thorogood who reimagined the style. Thorogood’s introduction of the saxophone to rockabilly instrumentation was particularly influential to Dauson. “I love George Thorogood’s guitar playing, and the fact that he added a saxophone player to his band in 1980,” Dauson explains. “Saxophone is such an important instrument in rock and roll and rockabilly, it really elevated his music.”
Produced by James Nickle, “Will You Won’t You” was recorded with care and intention that balance modern technique and Dauson’s retro influences. The rhythm guitar was recorded with a G&L Comanche, a unique selection chosen for the tonal character of its Z-coil pickups. Dauson also added a fuzz pedal to add a layer of modern grit into the mix. Careful choices like these are what make “Will You Won’t You” so effective in bringing rockabilly into the 21st century.
“Will You Won’t You” is lyrically quite simple, but if anything that serves to supplement the authenticity with which Dauson evokes rockabilly tradition. The straightforward lyrical structure makes the song feel etched in time, with a spirit apt for a milkshake parlor or dance hall. As Dauson croons “Will you won’t you love me too,” it’s hard to not be drawn back to the 50s alongside her.
“Will You Won’t You” is a triumph in adaptation: not just because Katie Dauson is willing to dredge up a genre from the annals of music history, but because she does so with palpable passion for that sound. Dauson once again proves her merit as a genre shapeshifter, bringing rockabilly to life as only she can. The track has an air of spontaneity, giving it a raw and authentic feel sure to win listeners over.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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