In a blanket fort is where Shutups recorded their new EP. Hadley and Mia have been friends for years, and their connection translates through their music. It’s inventive and poignant—much in the same vein as the eccentric 2016 Sioux Falls album Rot Forever—with bombastic instrumentals and tired vocals. They’re full of powerful lines, too, like the opening to “Last Place”: “How do I know my friends are still there? / When I cry, can they hear?”
The two were ready to release their sophomore album via Kill Rock Stars when the pandemic struck. 5 is the result of being stuck in quarantine and writing songs about isolation. It’s still tinged with hope for the future, and, even if most of the tracks are dispirited, they’re loud and catchy.
“These songs are about missing our friends, the band shares. “’Last Place’ is a reflection of our most recent tour that ended in late February 2020, just as the word quarantine started to kick in. Thinking back to being in the van with our friends, laughing with one another, seeing our friends and family along the West Coast, that’s what it’s about. This EP has a heavy nostalgia for the recent past.
“These songs are less rambunctious than our previous releases. All five songs were written within an early noise curfew time frame, as to not disturb sleeping family members. Sleeping schedules crept later and later, often waking up at 1pm and working well until 4 a.m., silently editing drums and vocal takes, taking smoke breaks out the bathroom window.”
Listen to 5 a day early below.
