ShitKid - Fish

Rating:

Raw sonics with a knack for candy-coated pop hooks.

"Baby are you out of your mind?" Åsa Söderqvist echoes on her album's opening track. "Never seen a girl like me." Tongue in cheek those lyrics might be, but the music she makes is certainly one of a kind. Creating rock and roll at its most deliciously lo-fi, the Swedish musician has become something of a sensation. Under the moniker ShitKid she offers a soundtrack to life in all of its droll possibility. From late night parties through lazy days, cute crushes, and pent up frustrations, debut album 'Fish' is an exploration through everything that excites us.

Brandishing a punked up attitude over skuzzed up refrains, the record is rich in its rebellious character. "Yeah, I'm on my way, I'm on my way to hell," Åsa sings on the spiky yet sweet 'Sugar Town', an introduction to the rocky and refreshing world she inhabits. Lead single 'Tropics' is as full of woozy wonder as it is nonchalance, melodies meandering under carefree vocal refrains, while 'Alright' takes on an almost anthemic guise, rallying energy in its own satisfaction.

As blissful as they are brazen, these songs combine an affinity for raw sonics with a knack for candy-coated pop hooks. Delighting in its own off-kilter construction, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that straddles the line between chilling and contagious quite this well. Jessica Goodman