Shit Present release new single ‘Unravelling’ - “Yet another song about complete mental collapse”
Shit Present release new single ‘Unravelling’ -
“Yet another song about complete mental collapse”
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Ahead of Manchester Punk Festival appearance this weekend
From the debut album ‘What Still Gets Me’, the band’s first collection in seven years - out 5th May via Specialist Subject:
Represses of their first EPs are also available to order now
As Shit Present gear up to release their long-awaited debut album ‘What Still Gets Me’ on 5th May, the Bristol-based trio have revealed a new single ‘Unravelling’ which serves as a disconcerting representation of a “complete psychotic breakdown”. Vocalist and guitarist Iona Cairns says it’s about a state of mind “where you can’t trust anyone or anything anymore and have to isolate yourself completely and question what is real and what isn’t. I wanted Thom’s voice to be really present on this song - we sing the choruses together and he sings the second verse. When you lose it completely and don’t know who you are anymore, you don’t know which ‘you’ is real anymore. I wanted to try and get that across with the two voices.”
‘What Still Gets Me’ also features the recently released lyrically nihilistic ‘More To Lose’, lead single ‘Voice In Your Head’ and boldly brilliant ‘Fuck It’. Shit Present’s previous EPs ‘Shit Present’ (2015) and ‘Misery + Disaster’ (2016) have been repressed too and are available to order now. The releases garnered acclaim for Cairns’ fervent vocals, exploring themes of anxiety, depression and solitude. Shit Present will be playing cuts from their career to date at Manchester Punk Festival this weekend.
While ‘What Still Gets Me’ doesn’t shy away from the heavier topics, there is a playful reprieve, a kind of comfort among the chaos. “I was trying to let my 13-year-old self out, the one that loved all the embarrassing pop-punk,” Cairns explains. By leaning into the joy that made her love music in the first place, ‘What Still Gets Me’ urged Cairns to express herself more freely than ever before, with the help of bandmates Thom Weeks (guitar, bass, vocals) and Ben Cottam (drums).
“The first song on this album was the first song I wrote after a period of about three years struggling to write anything at all” Cairns explains. “I realised that it still felt good; I do want to write an album.” Opener ‘Cram The Page’ is a propulsive release, starting with a collage of looped, crunchy feedback. Through detached, driving strums, Cairns details the strains of coming to terms with her bipolar disorder. “She’s lost all her friends, doesn’t blame them at all / They watched her climb to the edge and couldn’t bear the fall,” she sings, commanding and steady. But this isn’t an introduction to an LP about the constraints of mental illness; instead, it’s a cathartic statement of perseverance, shedding the stigmas of stiff upper lips and embracing the vulnerability in sharing your story, even if it helps just one person.
Shit Present have fully flourished into a no-holds-barred powerhouse. The album’s title track, with guest vocals from Camp Cope’s Georgia McDonald, unwaveringly points the finger at dangerous men who claim to be harmless. “It’s not always a stranger in the dark / It’s the person you trust that goes too far,” the pair yell in a call-and-response style that showcases the strength in allowing yourself to finally feel angry. This anger permeates the album, like a friend amping you up to finally face a reality that you’ve long shielded yourself from. Power-pop banger ‘Beyond Tonight’ is a snappy, ear-worm chant, as Cairns sings “Trust me I can’t fall apart, I’m too strong now I’m so enough,” while ‘Crossed The Line’ barks “What a colossal waste of time, Reassuring you we’re fine” over booming guitars.
‘What Still Gets Me’ deals with weighty emotions, but it’s not an album about helplessness or intimidation. Through Cairns’ exorcising vocal delivery and the band’s relentless sonic arrangements, there’s a kind of rebirth that announces she is not a victim of herself nor anyone else. It’s a surrender to the feelings that make us uncomfortable, pushing them to the forefront instead of hiding them behind a curtain. By owning the messy, ever-changing landscape of our interior worlds, Shit Present offers up a collection where we can find solace in even our darkest, scariest moments.
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