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Skittish

Skittish became the ultimate purveyor of folk-rock nostalgia with ‘Mannequin’

The LA-residing indie folk-rock artist Skittish is fresh from the release of their eclectic era and genre-spanning seventh LP, Midwest Handshake. Genre-fluidity may have become the default position for artists in the 21st century, but few succeed in making a smorgasbord of style as cohesively electrifying as Skittish.

Midwest Handshake is a route back to the golden era of emo via a road never taken. Jeff Noller’s vocation in film sound production in recent years allowed him to sonically visualise his concept in panoramic colour.

This time, Skittish enlisted Ben Etter (Deer Hunter, Kaiser Chiefs) to mix and master the album in his analog-centric studio, resulting in a project that draws you in with nostalgia and quells modern malaise with lyrical resonance that could have only been rendered in our blighted with dystopic blues era.

With the Weezer-esque guitars lending themselves well to the earwormy hooks and the drawling with deadpan attitude vocals in the verses evolving into adrenalized harmonies in the standout track, Mannequin, you couldn’t ask for more serotonin from a single. The raucously riled deliverance of unity is the ultimate olive branch to the disenfranchised by ennui outliers. After one hit, you will want to devour the cinematic album whole.

Mannequin hit the airwaves on August 25; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Skittish shows us the future of thorny folk-rock with their eighth release, House on Fire.

Skittish

LA-based alt-rock outfit, Skittish, shunted folk-rock further into the future than it has ever been with their 8th release, House on Fire. If you can imagine what it would sound like if Hozier did thorny post-rock synthpop, you can get an idea of just how alchemic the fiery release is.

With the female vocals projecting a sense of innocence into the progressively unpredictable instrumentals and the male vocals injecting plenty of raconteur energy into the sporadically symphonic track, even if you listened to House on Fire 100 times, you’d still be picking new fractures of ingenuity from the unforgettably refreshing track.

House on Fire is due for official release on November 19th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast