Go backstage with The Music and receive FREE:

  • Exclusive members-only editorial, charts
  • Our subscriber-only newsletter
  • Members only competitions to win tickets, experiences and more
  • Access to our street press archives
  • First access to our exclusive limited edition vinyl variants

Thank you for being a part of our community! Enter your email address as verification and you'll be taken backstage right away.

Please ensure that you provide a valid email address.

The Top 30 Albums Of 2019 (So Far): Stella Donnelly – 'Beware Of The Dogs'

'The Music' team on the albums you need to hear from 2019.

More Stella Donnelly Stella Donnelly Profile

"Beware Of The Dogs feels like the embodiment of a movement of young artists in Australia who are refusing to let this oppressive behaviour slide." – Belinda Quinn

What a debut from Perth's Stella Donnelly! She combines witty, intimate, hyperlocal songwriting – which more often than not takes down hierarchical power structures and toxic dudes, see opener Old Man – with slack, shoegazing guitar lines. 

There are subdued moments, like Mosquito, where her girlish vocals come to the fore, only for songs like the title track to build to a loud, impassioned – and funny – call-to-arms: "There’s no Parliament worthy of this countryside/All these pious fucks taking from the 99," she cries. Let ‘em have it, Stella. 


Join 'Backstage Pass', our FREE members program for music fans