London duo Shelf Lives bill themselves as “trash-pop,” and yet their brand of musical rubbish keeps rubbing off on us in magical ways. Fresh off the pulsating electro thump of October’s “Shelf Life” comes a new track today (November 24) called “Mark Twain,” and its hazy lo-fi strut should provide enough of a contact high to keep us here across the Atlantic all floaty as fuck through the long holiday weekend.
“Mark Twain,” described as a “treatise on personal authenticity and self-expression” by the duo — Toronto-born Sabrina and Northampton guitarist/producer Jonny — arrives with word of Shelf Lives’ debut mini-album, Yes, offence, due out in April. This joint and “Shelf Life” will appear on the release.
“We’re in an age of self-expression which comes hand-in-hand with opinion,” says Sabrina. “We’re being told by each other who we can and can’t be, what we can and can’t feel and how to express it. ‘Mark Twain’ is a, sort of, commentary on the confusion and complexity this behavior creates of something meant to be genuine and authentic. It becomes safer to be emotionless, or at least perceived as, but as we waste these moments of vulnerability and expression a resentment and sadness build. This inevitably leads to the disassociation with these ‘new norms’ and potentially social isolation.”
“Mark Twain” can also be absorbed in video form, a collaboration with director duo Florence Poppy Deary and Francesca Van Haverbeke, otherwise known as FLAN. “We wanted to explore who Shelf Lives really are,” say FLAN, “turns out, they’re dog food-eating, birthday crying, spaghetti vomiting, balaclava headed, spinach teething, nose bleeding bread heads. And that they aren’t a suitable gift for under 16-years-olds.”
Get in early on a duo who appear to be poised as one of 2022’s most-needed breakouts.
***