SPIDER - Hell Or High Water

‘HELL OR HIGH WATER’ might just be the perfect introductory statement. The five-track release shows SPIDER as an artist able to offer both huge pop moments and confessional balladry, presenting it all through a lens of gnarly guitars and delightfully clanging industrial noise: think the fearlessness of ‘70s punk experimentation; MIA had she grown up on Linkin Park and Nine Inch Nails instead of ‘80s hip hop. “Oooooh,” the Irish newcomer delivers with only the level of eye-rolling sarcasm someone raised fully online could call on, “Why are you so scared?” She knows the answer - she just wants the quiet part said out loud. From scratchy opener ‘AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL’ to the mid-noughties calling ‘FUCK EVERYONE FUCK EVERYTHING’, there’s the palpable sense of ambition, not least on the stellar ‘WHY WOULD I BOTHER’, with its crunchy, grunge-influenced guitars, begging for an epic festival tent moment, such is its scope. Better yet, though, the EP’s somewhat scrappy style owes itself to not chasing perfection: and if SPIDER is this great while not afraid to still be finding her feet, who knows what she’s capable of?