Shelf Lives - You Okay?

The seeds of Shelf Lives’ distinct sound were sown between Toronto, Northampton, and London, as duo Sabrina Di Giulio and Jonny Hillyard came together in mutual musical understanding and shared social dissatisfaction. A few years, a pandemic, and some financial crises later, and here we have ‘You Okay?’ - a hurtling blend of punk and electroclash that suggests the answer to its titular question is a pointed ‘No. But fuck it, it’s fine’. Accelerating out the gate at 100mph, ‘All Grown Up’ pairs skittering beats with defiant vocal delivery in the style of Dream Wife to determinedly set a tone of almost manic nihilism. Over the remaining three tracks, the project incorporates thumping basslines (‘KIDS’), earworm pop hooks (‘PVC Real Estate’) and thrashing riffs (‘Off The Rails’) for a gleefully genre-bending exercise in building and releasing tension. We may be facing a seemingly inevitable race towards societal implosion, but Shelf Lives, at least, are dancing at the apocalypse’s dawn.