Essex-London band She's In Parties on their third EP 'Are You Dreaming?' • Interview • DIY Magazine

Since releasing their debut EP ‘End Scene’ in 2023, Essex-London quartet She’s In Parties have been quietly carving out a world of their own: one of shimmering dreamscapes, soft-focus melodies and emotionally charged reflections. Now, with their third EP ‘Are You Dreaming?’, the band are moving beyond their shoegaze roots.

It’s a shift that, as Irish-born lead vocalist Katie Dillon explains, stems as much from personal upheaval as artistic growth. “I moved away from the rest of the band just over a year ago now, and I started a new life for myself in London. It was an intense time of my life,” she recalls. “When I feel overwhelmed, I tend to dream a lot. It was often hard to differentiate reality from dreaming, and that’s where the theme for the EP came from.”

The physical distance between London and the band’s base of Colchester, Essex - where bassist Charlie Johnson, lead guitarist Herbie Wiseman and drummer Matt Carman remain - sparked a new way of working, with the members recording their parts individually. “I think the music itself has changed, because we weren’t together as frequently,” Katie explains. “It represents each band member better now. You can hear our individual parts of the song, which reflects our process.”

The EP’s tracklist follows Katie’s shifting sense of self as she navigates her new life, through moments of euphoria, disorientation and reflection. “‘Fallen’ is when you first move and you feel good about it; then ‘Are You Dreaming?’ is the overwhelming stage. ‘Runaway’ is when you’re starting to get into the groove. You fall in and out of the highs and lows - that’s where ‘Same Old Story’ comes in. And ‘R.E.M’ is the dreamlike state - everything, all at once,” she explains.

Looking back on the band’s journey from ‘End Scene’ to now, growth is the first word that comes to mind for Katie. “Each EP represents where we were at that period of time,” says Charlie. “The first one is way more guitar-based, and as you go on towards the current one, we’ve got better at writing.” Herbie agrees: “We’re five or six years in now, so we’ve definitely improved. This one’s my favourite we’ve done so far, for multiple reasons. I can listen to it and I’m not bored of it - yet, anyway!”

They debuted the new material in October during an intimate show at The Social in London - a special night for fans who had pre-ordered the vinyl. “I was so nervous, and I’ve never been nervous for a show before,” Katie admits. “But it was actually a really cool, intimate moment because the fans got to experience me vulnerable.” Previously, the band would road-test new songs live before releasing them, but this time they opted not to. “That’s why it became more nerve-wracking, even compared to the bigger shows we’ve done,” Charlie admits - and that’s saying something, given their festival slots at Tramlines, Truck and Y Not, to name a few.

“When I feel overwhelmed, I tend to dream a lot. It was often hard to differentiate reality from dreaming.”

— Katie Dillon

True to its name, ‘Are You Dreaming?’ leans fully into the shimmering textures and soft haze of dream-pop, marking a slight departure away from the distorted shoegaze tendencies that dominated their earliest work. “Genres are great, but we all listen to different music, so I don’t think we could ever just do one genre,” Katie says, expressing the value of having the freedom to experiment with new sounds. “But it is a real pain when people from our hometown ask me what type of music I make,” Herbie says with a laugh.

The band’s sound often invites comparisons to ‘80s icons like Cocteau Twins, The Cure and Tears for Fears - something Herbie welcomes: “There are homages in our music, particularly in my guitar writing, to specific ‘80s songs and genres.” But this time around, Katie says, the influences were much less deliberate or pinpointed. “When we’ve released our previous EPs, we usually had a specific band or a song that inspired it. For this one, we haven’t really thought of one. So, this one is interesting for us as well.”

One track in particular, ‘Runaway’, has drawn unexpected parallels to Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’, originating from producer Macks Faulkron. “I didn’t realise that until we were on the way to record it,” Charlie laughs. “I think we’re getting more confident in our own sound. We’ve had enough time now to fine-tune it.” Katie nods: “It’s cool to be inspired by other people’s art. Hopefully, it’s circular and everyone is inspired by everyone.”

Their growing confidence matches their ambition for what’s next following the EP’s release - especially when it comes to performing it live. “I think these songs, particularly the title track, are suited to bigger stages,” Charlie says. Katie agrees: “We went into it thinking, this is going to be for a big venue. Because if you write in that way, it’ll happen.”

As for favourite tracks, the band unanimously point to the two tracks that weren’t selected as singles, ‘R.E.M’ and ‘Runaway’. “Coincidence? I think not!” Herbie jokes. Still, the decision to lead with ‘Same Old Story’ as the first single was a strategic one: “If we’d chosen another track like ‘Fallen’ first, people would have been like, ‘woah!’ so it definitely - hopefully - eases people into the new stuff,” Katie says.

She adds: “‘Runaway’ and ‘R.E.M’ are both very different to everything we’ve released before. We’ll always reference back to our old stuff, but we want to keep growing and maturing in our songwriting.” As for where they see things going next, as they look towards their future projects, Katie teases: “It won’t be shoegaze, but it will allude back to it.”

For now, the band are taking things at their own pace, opting out of an intense touring schedule to focus on this new material. “We’d love to write an album,” Charlie says. “It’s everyone’s dream,” Katie adds. “We’ve got a few shows to end the year” - including two hometown headlines in Colchester around the EP’s release date - “then we need to focus on being creative again.”

They may still be learning to navigate the blur between dreams and reality, and the distance between Katie’s London base and their hometown in Essex, but She’s In Parties seem to have found their rhythm in the in-between. And it appears to be there, in that hazy, liminal space, that their sound has fully come into its own.

‘Are You Dreaming?’ is out now via Submarine Cat Records.

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Tags: Features, Interviews, From The Magazine, November 2025, She’s In Parties

As featured in the November 2025 issue of DIY, out now.

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