Shygirl's second album is out today: big pop swings, a softer touch, two key producers and a coming-of-age love story at the center. Here's your guide.
Shygirl has fallen in love, and she has made an entire album about what it did to her. SWALLOW! arrives today, 6 November, on Because Music, and it is her second studio album: a record that sets big pop moments next to a much more delicate touch.
Rough Trade has already crowned it Album of the Month for November, describing it as a “reintroduction.” That’s the right word. Here’s what to know before you press play.
The sound: pop songwriting, electronic bones
Shygirl made SWALLOW! with Karma Kid and Casey MQ. Together they pull indie songwriting and 90s hallmarks into the electronic world she already built, and the result sits somewhere between a club night and a diary entry. Rough Trade calls it an album of fine balance. It has minimalist moments and maximalist ones, and it lets her wander into new genre territory without losing the electronic roots she came up on.
That balance matters because of where she started. Born in South London, Blane Muise, as she’s known off the stage, rose through underground club scenes, working with Sega Bodega, Arca and SOPHIE along the way. Her debut, Nymph, mixed experimental pop, R&B and hyperpop into something melodic and introspective. SWALLOW! keeps the electronics but pushes harder on song structure. You can hum along and still feel the floor shake.
The story: a coming-of-age moment, late and loud
The album’s theme is the chapter in which Shygirl fell in love and learned more about herself and her impulses. It’s a coming-of-age story, which is a fun thing to say about an artist who already has a debut, a record label and a pile of famous collaborators behind her. Growing up, it turns out, doesn’t follow a schedule. Love tends to be the thing that makes you look at your own habits, and the album follows her as she does exactly that.
The softer, more delicate passages are where that shows most. Pairing them with the louder, shinier pop moments gives the record its push and pull. The feeling it describes is tender one minute and impulsive the next.
The world around it
Shygirl has always been a worldbuilder. She co-founded NUXXE, which is both a record label and a collective, and Rough Trade notes that she treats music and physical spaces as extensions of her personality, shaped by community and considered concept. Her fans tend to approach her releases as entry points into a whole universe, with the tracklist as only one room.
Her résumé shows how far that universe reaches. She has opened for Beyoncé and Charli XCX, and she keeps working with Lady Gaga, FKA twigs and Mura Masa. SWALLOW! is also billed as a step toward more live shows, so expect those worlds to start taking physical shape on stages.
For collectors, Rough Trade is carrying an exclusive pressing: clear and black splatter vinyl, with a bonus CD included. It’s the sort of object that looks as good on a shelf as it sounds on a turntable, and it gives the album a tangible form on release day.
If you like…
Rough Trade’s suggested company for SWALLOW! is a good shorthand for the neighborhood it lives in: SOPHIE, Charli xcx, Caroline Polachek, Kelela and Tinashe. If those names sit on your playlists, you already know the mix of experimental nerve and pop hooks that Shygirl works in.
And if you’ve followed her from the underground to the dancefloor, this is the record that shows where she’s heading next. It’s a love story, a reintroduction and a warm-up for the live shows to come. Put it on loud first, then play it again at a lower volume to catch the quieter details.
Via Rough Trade