The big effort here is obfuscation, from the trend for bouncy pads and kicks to the pixel-splattered album art. (Even the text of the album's slim press release gets Zalgo wrong.) When they do, the results can be startlingly original. Against the combed slogans, the malevolent AI system from Portal sings a lullaby to the “inside” and asks, nonchalantly, “What's real?” Once a musical point of contact is established—and there is a smorgasbord on offer—it will be overturned and cut to pieces. Trinidad's keyboard opening 'gimmi it' abruptly gives way to a series of pounding drums and vocal tracks. Amidst the rush of adrenaline, a calm, detached voice is heard, waking from an acid dream: “This is so cool.” “dreamcast” nods further in the direction of the unreal, both in its title and in the bubbly cues and limitless blocks of wood that create video game loading screens—those waiting rooms for the expansive universes promised by game developers. (An old Pinterest account for the couple collects images from Tekken, Tomb Raiderand Ghost in the Shell as an inspiration; (the Two Shell logo itself isn't too far from the Sony Computer Entertainment emblem of the 90s and 00s.)
Jokes don't always land. “be Somebody” seemingly riffs on a Kings of Leon power ballad, but it's not clear to what end. Project closing “Mirror” sounds like Burial six Red Bulls deep, scrolling through Instagram Reels — and not necessarily in a good way. But on the album's standout, “[rock✧solid]”, Two Shell created a rare piece of gold without a joint. It's so good precisely because—with its tangled vocals and natural rhythms—it doesn't try to be too clever. It is primal in its hedonism.
The high response to all this is that this is postmodernism writ large: no single identity, no objective perspective. all time, and the art in it, is for the taking. Several different advance versions of this album were sent to Pitchfork editors, with different tracklists and trolled versions of many songs. When a new video for lead single 'Everybody Worldwide' was released on the same day as the album's release, it was longer and weirder (and sugarier) than either the original version of the single or the track available on the album itself . There is every possibility that by the time this review is published, the entire disc will have been completely changed. Or just disappeared.
It's easy to overthink a fun creative endeavor. Two Shell it may well have been conceived as a treatise on computing, creativity and the AI-shaped future we seem to be moving towards. Above all, however, what emerges is something simpler. In fact, the duo may have already given it away in all the tricks. Back to 2022 when they gave that deleted interview with The Face magazine, Pat and Jack said they “want to create new ways for people to feel excited about the things they love.” Sometimes that means creating a weird website or a hat with a light on it. And sometimes it's just a case of lining up the drums and bass in such a way that the track can forget about going to work on Monday.
