EP review: Wicked City by Jockstrap

Jockstrap are a musical duo consisting of Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye. Their music combines Ellery’s half-whispered vocals with Skye’s electronic production. Wicked City is a one of a kind project where you’ll find that each song is somehow different from the other. It’s hard to describe the project in a few word because there’s such a lot packed in here, flabby dubstep basslines rubbing up against light-footed piano turnarounds, pirouetting vocal lines jostling for space with thunderous kicks, impressionistic lyrics that offer us snatches of narrative and all this comes together in a compact form without even breaking a sweat. 

The opener ‘Robert’ is nothing like the music Jockstrap’s are known for.  With deadpan vocals and jolting drums it’s an uneasy start to the record, layering a perfect groundwork for the tracks to follow. The things are pushed on to a familiar territory with the next track ‘Acid’ that was the lead single for this EP. Its dizziness and stop-start structure imply an underlying mischief that contrasts pleasingly with the superficial earnestness of Ellery’s singing. The track that follows this is the most wholesome cut on the project ‘Yellow In Green’. Diving deep into melancholy with an easy sounding piano segment to start off, the track leads to futuristic video game like synths. This sketches the contours of the underlying chord structure and highlights their most intricate details. 

The best is saved for the last with the closing one-two of ‘The City’ and ‘City Hell’. The former a heady cocktail of urbane confessional and sticky UK bass, the latter an elegant, vaporwave-esque breeze of a track that skates along a simple trap beat effortlessly, with hammy lead guitar lines deep below the whirlpool synths and autotuned vocals. The ingenious pivot into that track’s lithe second half, with Ellery’s most direct words yet providing a focal point, may be the crowning moment of the EP. 

There isn’t a single dud or even a slightly dull moment on the 20 minute long project. It’s filled with adrenaline fueled by high-octane percussions. The EP is a perfect balance between vocal prowess and production genius. This EP leaves us wanting for more and if this is the route that the Jockstrap are trotting on, then we are in for an amazing time.