ShitKid are going back to school, but not because they need to. What began as a solo project for Åsa Söderqvist in 2015 became one of the Sweden’s biggest underground success stories of recent years, her thrilling disregard for traditional genre boundaries or song structure leading to plaudits around the world. When Bandcamp suggested she might be “the weirdest musician in Sweden” in 2017, they meant it in the best way possible.
Listen To The New Single:
Instead, Söderqvist and new bandmate Lina Molarin Ericsson are winding the clock back to their school days, not to hit the books or turn their backs on rock and roll but instead to mine material for their remarkable second album. Out in May, [DETENTION] is a scintillating eight-track pop-punk blast of teen angst that pays tribute to the bands Söderqvist loved in her formative years, whilst also resurrecting a very specific wave of emo that’s died a death in the years since. “I started listening to the bands that I loved in school again, and I felt inspired by it,” she explains. “It’s a genre that’s quite embarrassing to go back to, and I knew that would make it really fun. I used to be emo in 2008, and now nobody plays that music anymore! There’s nothing about being kids and nobody understanding you. It felt like time to bring it back.”
[DETENTION] forms just one part of ambitious future plans for ShitKid. The duo plan to tackle a different genre with each new release, marking a major shift away from the borderless, stylistic breadth of their early releases, like critically-acclaimed 2017 debut full-length ‘Fish’ or Söderqvist’s 2016 ‘ShitKid’ EP. “We’ll definitely do a pop album next,” she says, her mind already racing, “and we want to make a screamo record too!” For now, though, they are firmly rooted in the kind of pop-emo crossover that captured their imaginations in high school.
Recorded at Stockholm’s Country Girl Studios with producer Lovina Isaksson and cut almost entirely live by an expanded four-piece lineup including Söderqvist, Ericsson, guitarist Arvid Sjöö and drummer Josefin Ahlqvist Lyzwinski, [DETENTION] aims to evoke a rebellious, youthful spirit that everybody can relate to. Young love, alienation and a surefire belief that the adults are out to get you. The fact ShitKid have pulled it off with so much energy and have made the teenage rollercoaster of emotions such a joy to ride again, only confirms what we already knew about them. They’re fearless, they’re fun, and they can do anything they put their mind to. Now for that screamo album.