There’s plenty of reasons to be a bit jittery in 2017. Trump’s teetering on the edge of nuclear catastrophe, and on these shores, Brexit is well in the shitter. It’s no surprise then that Norwegian pop-punk revivalists Sløtface have christened their debut album ‘Try Not To Freak Out’ – an ode to keeping the party going through the chaos and calling the shots as they see them.
Take album opener ‘Magazine’ which challenges the media’s portrayal of female bodies in a blistering opener – and giving birth to their already quotable lyric, ‘Patti Smith would never put up with this shit’. Neither will Sløtface, it seems.
The album’s not all doom and gloom, mind. ‘Backyard’ is a riotous cut, which pairs crunching guitars and Haley Shea’s exploratory mindset (We go adventuring in our backyard), as well ‘Pitted’ a imaginative play-by-play of the ‘end-of-the-world-party’ (And we’ll dance like our dads doing our ‘Hotline Bling’ thing/God it’s embarrassing), proving that when they turn the fun on, little can stand in their way.
But as the album unfolds, the band continue to nail the balance between rebellious anthems and cutting social commentary. Like ‘Nancy Drew’, a song based around the classic feminist super-detective which feels more relevant – and ‘Night Guilt’, where Shea sings touches on anxiety.
Whether the world picks up – or we continue freaking out for a little while longer, we’re blessed to have Sløtface providing the bangers until the bitter end.
