EP Review: Shelf Lives - You Okay?

 

Perhaps it's indicative of the times that we live in. Perhaps it's indicative of our tribal need to reconnect. Perhaps it's a sign of things to come. However you frame it, that question we ask each other frequently - almost the first thing we ask - continues to remain as important to our sense of empathy as ever. 

You okay? 

It's a question that lurks at the centre of the new E.P from London Electro Punk duo Shelf Lives. The band are comprised of Toronto-born vocalist Sabrina Di Giulio and guitarist/producer Jonny Hillyard, who originally comes from Northampton. The pair met in London after Di Giulio came over to study Music Business at ACM Guildford, Hillyard had enrolled to do a Music Production course. I'd imagine one of the first things they said to each other was that very question.

📷 Zac Mahrouche

Despite knowing each other for several years by this point, it wasn't until 2020 that the duo started writing music together and it seems to have snowballed from there; the catalyst that both needed to spark their undoubtedly fascintaing chemistry and creativity. A deluge of singles have since appeared as well as 2022's wonderfully-titled mini album Yes, offence - which laid bare their blueprint laced with a flagrant disregard for the sludge of the Post Capitalist waters we continue to wade in. 

Their star has risen as a result: Glastonbury came calling two years on the bounce and a support tour with Rock veterans Skunk Anansie saw them gain admiring glances outside of their usual comfort zone. Prior to the release of You Okay?, Shelf Lives released two explosive single blasts of Electro Punk in the shape of 'Bite' and 'All The Problems' which raised their game significantly. No pressure.

The good news is that Shelf Lives have really stepped up to the mark. Opener 'All Grown Up' sounds as if the band are being beamed back from another reality, before Jonny - almost flippantly - pronounces that "Everything is fucked." A processed beat immediately enters, creating the building blocks for the track to burst into life. A guitar lick - sounding detuned and demonic - is the next to arrive in the mix, it's almost as if Tommy Iommi has gatecrashed a Miss Kitten & The Hacker session at this point. 

Quick to emerge from this spectacle is Sabrina's vocal that combines some urgent lyrics with an almost bored, nonchalent and sarcastic delivery:

Hurry up slow, because you're getting old

Put your hand up just to say hello.

The vocals reach their pinnacle on the track when the duo combine to impressive effect. It's here where the song's theme of growing old disgracfully really emerges, as they both breathlessly deliver the lines:

Do something adult,

take your meds.

Do something adult,

get a prescription.

Only to flip these lyrics on their head as the track ends to:

Do something adult,

break your legs.

Do something adult, 

get an addiction. 

The intro to 'KIDS' loops menacingly into earshot with the same intensity as The Prodigy at their most playful. This time vocals enter together from the off and there's a line that jumps out of the speakers here straight away:

This is my American dream because I said so. 

Mainly because I can only think in Americanisms as I hear the introduction of an absolutely filthy, stonking beat that is a true curveball. For those of you who don't understand baseball references, basically it means I wasn't expecting that. This is clearly the song on the E.P that will take your house party to another level. I can confidently forecast there will be many an unfortunate injury acquired with this playing in the background. The refrain in the breakdown could well be the mantra of a new generation of bohemian dropout; a 'fuck off' to conformity:

We get fucked up on a Sunday afternoon

We don't get up on a Monday; joke's on you.

A change of pace and sonic style is perhaps necessary at this point in the E.P and it arrives with 'PVC Real Estate'. There's a definite attempt here to have a much lighter, breezier sound on this and it certainly shows another side to Shelf Lives' cannon; it's more Charlie XCX than Peaches. The lyrics however, tell a different story. Taking a shot at Californian excess that is pumped into our consciousness via movies and music; a culture that celebrates vacuous celebrity and obscene wealth. The weakest track on the E.P, it doesn't quite hit with same potency as other tracks, but perhaps that is the point.

We needn't have worried, because You Okay? ends with the thrilling single 'Off The Rails', which takes on the vicious cycle of consumerism that fails to fulfill geniune needs, but also isolates those who attempt to reject it. The hook on this track does it's job magnificently from the off; it'll break into your head and refuse to move out until you give in and let it stay without paying a penny.

 Bloody spongers. 

Jonny sets their stall out from the beginning with another flippant use of language, as he repeats:

No fuckin' way man.

I've found myself singing that far too many times since this song was released in the summer. Sabrina's vocals are at their most fruitful on 'Off the Rails' and she plays around with her voice, yelping at points like Karen O stepping barefoot on a Lego piece.  The chorus is an incendiary blend of bouncing beats and crunchy guitar that is unrelentingly catchy, with lyrics that reiterate the theme of the song:

                            Can't go off the rails now, 

                            because you're none in a million.

It's not always met with an honest answer or even asked with the desire for an honest answer, but the answer is not always as important as asking the question in the first place. With You Okay?, Shelf Lives have both asked the question and provided an accomplished response. 

You can follow Shelf Lives on Facebook, Instagram and X and buy direct from their Bandcamp.