Punchbag
I Am Obsessed
MUTE
Punchbag describe their sound as “hopecore”: an electronic-forward mix of pop, punk, and rave music, with a dash of indie rock for good measure. It’s an accurate label, for sure, but it omits the flashback taste the South London sibling duo of Clara and Anders Bach leave on the tip of your tongue. Their music scratches the same itch that Calvin Harris and Charli XCX exploited a decade ago to define the sound of pop music in the 2010s, with their newly released I Am Obsessed EP slowly convincing the listener over the course of its 15-minute runtime that it was actually recorded in 2012.
I Am Obsessed takes stock of all the overwhelming clutter in our lives, whether that be the physical stuff piled in bedrooms or the various stressors cramming themselves into our brains. The EP blasts off with Clara rifling through the various items in her handbag on “What’s in My Bag.” The track itself is a frenetic metaphor for overconsumption and the overwhelming need to hold onto that crumpled shopping list and half-eaten granola bar—just in case. Not to be dragged down by anxious writing material, however, Punchbag infuses their pink hand sanitizer with a four-on-the-floor electronica beat dripping with nostalgia for the era of Icona Pop.
Sifting through the clutter is not a one-track job, however. “Pile of Clothes” chews on the weight of anxiety and depression by taking stock of the discarded clothing on your bedroom floor. Punchbag tosses their lightly worn cardigans onto the small linen mountain next to the closet as a distressed bass rumbles underneath, signaling the gravity of the insurmountable situation we’ve found ourselves in. The chorus explodes with a cry of “I’ve been underneath the pile of clothes,” ushering in a blast of jumpy pop production as Clara fleshes out the analogy from beneath Mt. Cardigan.
Closing out the EP is the title track, which doesn’t necessarily sound clutter-related until Clara analogizes her unhealthy romantic fixation with the lipstick in the bottom of her handbag. What starts as a soft piano ballad balloons into a raucous scream of the EP’s title as the drums come firing in. The Bach siblings stated that “dramatising the everyday more than ever before” was central to I Am Obsessed, and nowhere is that clearer than on the closer. Picking the dirt from underneath your fingernails as a metaphor for obsessing over a crush? You can feel the debilitating fixation, and Punchbag is right on the money. I am obsessed.
