When Ebbb arrived in 2024 with their EP, All At Once, they felt like a complete shock to the system, subverting expectations by taking pristine, cathedral-ready vocal harmonies and throwing them directly into a blender of chaotic, jagged beats. It was a spectacular EP, elevating the expectations for their full-length debut album, Shallow Hits. Now nearing its release, the album is a blueprint for where left-field guitar music should go next.
The record thrives on sharp contrasts. Lev Ceylan’s frantic synth patches and Scott MacDonald’s unhinged drum beats create a turbulent sonic environment, while Will Rowland’s vocals serve as a stabilising force, coolly gliding above the instrumental chaos. This dynamic gives tracks like “Pander” and “Moving On” a striking level of tension.
But what makes Shallow Hits so gripping is how the band take familiar fragments of electronic music history and reconstructs them into something new and exciting. On “Side On,” they take the foundational drum patterns of the old-school rave scene, rev them up into a frantic pace, and layer them with cyclical vocal loops that make an apocalyptic warning feel akin to a celebratory anthem. Elsewhere, the sweeping orchestration on “You’ve Got Me Where You Want Me” captures the cinematic, dusty grandeur of a vinyl sample.
The album’s centrepiece is its title track, opening with a towering wall of oppressive, industrial-sounding brass before cracking open into a radiant pop hook, the track is a spotlight on Ebbb’s songwriting. Here, Rowland’s vocal delivery relies on a mesmerising, repetitive cadence, morphing symbolic lyricism into a constant earworm.
Shallow Hits is triumphantly vibrant, refusing to let its underlying themes of existential dread weigh it down. The lyrics delve deep into feelings of psychological weariness and self-doubt, yet the arrangements are so lively and infused with adrenaline that what you’re left with is pure euphoria. Ebbb might be a traditional indie band, or they might be a high-concept art project; either way, they’ve delivered one of the most vital and exhilarating debuts of the year.
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