Bambie Thug - Cathexis

With their visual artistry as committed to the bit as their musical breadth, it’s almost as if Bambie Thug is Lady Gaga’s final boss form: their shapeshifting looks reflect a sonic arsenal that, at least on this EP, showcases cues from smoky jazz rooms (‘Eternal Sunshine’) alongside a full on metallic roar (‘Doomsday Blues’). Like Poppy if she paired her noise with a softly-strummed acoustic in place of saccharine vocals, or if Finneas’ production had followed further along the ‘Bury A Friend’ industrial route with Billie Eilish, there’s a serious knack for a pop hook that’s not obscured by abrasive sound choices, but propelled by them. That the subtle chorus of ‘Careless’ is its most infectious might be this introduction’s most curious aspect, were it not for the motif that runs through ‘Last Summer (I Know What You Did)’. Somehow sounding like both Eurodance mainstay ‘Dragostea Din Tei’ in its opening pop form and Lewis Capaldi’s ubiquitous ‘Someone You Loved’ on the stripped-back piano closer and yet absolutely working in its own self. If that’s not the work of a future pop superstar, what is?