Bristol indie-pop-punk band Shit Present have announced a release date for their long-awaited debut album, which has been seven years in the making.
What Still Gets Me will be released via Specialist Subject on 5 May, with new single Voice In Your Head out now.
It’s the second song trailed from the new record, after a new era for the trio was heralded at the end of January by the arrival of bold new single Fuck It.
Represses of their first EPs, Shit Present (2015) and Misery + Disaster (2016) are also coming in March and are available to pre-order HERE.
The releases garnered acclaim for front person Iona Cairns’ fervent vocals, exploring themes of anxiety, depression and solitude. While What Still Gets Me doesn’t shy away from these heavier topics, there’s more of a playful feel, a kind of comfort among the chaos.
“I was trying to let my 13-year-old self out, the one that loved all the embarrassing pop-punk,” Cairns explains. By leaning into the joy that made her love music in the first place, bandmates Thom Weeks (guitar, bass, vocals) and Ben Cottam (drums) urged her to express herself more freely than ever before.
For almost three years, Cairns struggled to write a song. She had been creating for as long as she could remember, so this stagnant period felt like she would never get it back.
It was the result of a hospitalisation, and coming to terms with mental health issues which eventaully saw her diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Then, without any epiphany or grand catalyst, she picked up the guitar again and began writing what would become their first full-length album.
“The first song on this album was the first song I wrote after that period in 2019,” she explains. “I realised that it still felt good; I do want to write an album.”
What Still Gets Me deals with weighty emotions, but it’s not an album about helplessness; instead, it marks a kind of rebirth which announces Cairns is not a victim of herself nor anyone else.
You can catch Shit Present live at the following dates:
24 March – Planet Sounds, Southampton
26 March – Le Pub, Newport
7-9 April – Manchester Punk Fest
