Casey Dienel doesn’t just return—they reemerge, glowing and defiant, with “Your Girl’s Upstairs”, a dizzying, cinematic exploration of queerness, emotional labor, and self-possession. It’s the first offering from their upcoming album My Heart Is An Outlaw, and already, it’s clear: this is a new chapter, unfiltered and unafraid. The track hums with the confident chaos of lived experience, shaped into glittering production and gut-punch lyrics that linger long after the final note.
Wrapped in a dreamscape of echoing guitar from meg duffy (Hand Habits) and underpinned by hypnotic percussion, the single doesn’t just sound good—it feels like a slow exhale after holding your breath too long. Dienel’s voice floats and cuts with equal power, guiding us through a story that refuses neat endings. “She played house, played dead…” they sing, carving out a queer narrative that acknowledges both the ache and the autonomy of leaving behind someone else’s expectations.
Throughout the track, Dienel weaves tenderness with tension, never flinching from contradiction. This isn’t an artist begging for recognition—it’s someone standing in the middle of their own storm and inviting us in. With over two decades of reinvention behind them—from their White Hinterland era to now—Dienel proves they’re not here to replicate the past. They’re here to detonate it and rebuild something entirely their own.
With My Heart Is An Outlaw on the horizon, “Your Girl’s Upstairs” feels like a manifesto: for queerness that doesn’t apologize, for love that resists easy definition, and for art that dares to be both broken and brilliant. Casey Dienel isn’t just making music. They’re building anthems for anyone who’s ever had to become themselves more than once.
