Period Sex by M(h)aol

Róisn Nic Ghearailt, Constance Keane, Jamie Hyland, Zoe Greenway, and Sean Nolan make up the band M(h)aol (pronounced male) whose early material has been very engaging. Their highly anticipated album, Attachment Styles, takes the listener on a journey while discussing social connection, queerness, and healing. The theory of attachment styles, which examines the influence society and inter-familial relationships have on how we relate to one another, served as the central theme for Róisin's lyrics.

The new album includes the song Period Sex, which embraces periods and how they are still a contentious subject, even among those who consider themselves progressive.

Singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt has to say on the song: “Prior to writing the track I’d had a lot of eye-opening conversations around period shame with people of all genders and from all walks of life, and I wanted to write almost an anthem for everyone who had ever had a period or loved someone who had one. It felt like a hugely powerful thing to be in a position to create a song as a band that was unequivocally sexy. I’m a cis bisexual woman in a queer, sapphic relationship. Periods and period sex are a part of my reality, and my girlfriend actually helped me with the lyrics in the first verse.”

The psychedelic video which comes with the song was created by bassist Zo Greenway on a tiny budget, with the intention to represent female desire accurately. The work of experimental filmmakers like Carolee Schneeman, Barbara Hammer, and James Bidgood, inspired the clip, together with the natural depitction of period sex in the film The Souvenir Part 2 by Joanna Hogg, as well as the underwater world of Georges Méliès.

Zoë comments: “At the end of the day, it’s just a bit of blood, isn't it? It’s just a biological process that 50% of the human organisms on earth go through every month and there shouldn’t be any shame or taboo surrounding that. You know bats also menstruate? It’s just science that people menstruate, I don’t think anyone should ever feel embarrassed about it, about seeing blood on sheets or underpants or things like that.”

Attachment Styles will be released on February 3rd, 2023, by Tulle Collective.

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M(h)aol