Electro-punk newcomers Shelf Lives refuse to shrink to fit the norm, slamming the pedal to the metal for their floorfilling debut.
How do you feel real when culture wants you to curate and perform and optimize? The way Shelf Lives do it is to be loud and unfiltered – and to destroy some speakers along the way. Everything the Canadian-British duo do is blown-out and maximalist, equally suited to rage rooms as it is warehouses or basements with sticky floors. Scream with them, dance with them, unleash what you have to – all they ask is that you don’t make yourself small.
Shimmying in the gaps between punky scuzz and electronic fuzz, Shelf Lives zip from song to song and feeling to feeling with a near-relentless level of intensity. The thumping, pattering 2phoneS is a wild joyride of an opener, evoking the disorientating feeling of tumbling through an overstimulating life of ‘Sucking corporate dick for a bank account’ where ‘Every podcast is your best friend’. SychophanT buzzes and wobbles into a headrush-inducing spin cycle, while the hypnotic don’t laugH hypnotically threatens to pound your brain with its throbbing beat.
Though it periodically grates, such as on the over-saccharine 60K, hypernormaL has much to offer. FrissoN doubles down on their floor-filling ethos with a drill-like abrasion and psychO taps into their rockier side with driving guitar and a dry, drawling delivery, an altogether different slant they could easily get away with leaning into a little more. It’s used to best effect on like heR, which marries the best of both worlds – with the snaking basslines of Hotwax’s Lola Sam – in a song that’ll hit hard with anyone who’s ended up neck deep in the Instagram feed of someone they envy at 2am. Really, there’s a disarming, almost understated rawness to it finally getting a moment to pool forth.
hypernormaL is an assured debut that meets the moment in a distinctive, clever fashion. It’s also one big, giant vibe. Even so, somewhere in the cracks is potential for their future to sound even bigger.
Verdict: 3/5
For fans of: Rico Nasty, Lynks, 100 gecs
hypernormaL is out now via Not Sorry Mom
