by Conor Lochrie (@conornoconnor)
Perennial post-punk standard-bearers Shopping has entered the turbulent year of 2020 with their usual winning swagger on fourth album All Or Nothing, filled with a bravura that incites the listener to match their energy and rhythm and be swept forward with it. Released on FatCat Records again, the production is more polished and clean than the previous The Official Body, a reluctantly necessary move that so many of their post-punk peers and predecessors have had to undertake in the process of their careers in order to move into larger venues and stages (as Shopping has indeed done).
Shopping often appears as one of the most egalitarian bands working in their genre - simply put, there is no weak link. Rachel Aggs’ guitar wriggles and weaves its way through the songs, matched excellently by Andrew Milk’s tight but controlled drumming and Billy Easter’s pulsating bass (a quick moment to note the consistently excellent output of Aggs not just with Shopping but also Trash Kit and Sacred Paws, who has to be one of post-punk’s greatest musicians of the last ten years).
The more pop-friendly sound is not without charm: there are signs of embellishment and experimentation in their idiosyncratic taut post-punk style on this release, notably a turn towards the electronic. Indeed, at one point Aggs even shouts “Why don’t you show some initiative?,” a rallying cry to not only us but herself and the band. Several songs feature heavy use of synthesizers and keyboards, highlights being the wonky synth sound of “For Your Pleasure” and “Lies”. The band have never dealt in angry confrontation like so much other post-punk does - a sign of debt to Aggs’ history with and love of funk and highlife - and therefore the increased pop melody heard in All Or Nothing is entirely suitable.
The frenetic momentum that is their signature isn’t missing, though. On “Follow Me,” Aggs and Milk’s renowned back-and-forth vocal delivery returns (“(CCTV) Obsessed/(It’s Living To Me) Obsessed”) on the track that sounds most like their earlier releases. The frustrated consternation at the state of the world they inhabit remains under the new synth sheen too. This is anti-establishment music filtered through an appealingly funky facade, and Shopping has once again created post-punk to be frantically danced to through these most uncertain times.