Anonymous duo Two Shell return to Peverelist’s Livity Sound with SoulCity EP, a four-track follow-up to 2019’s breakout Access EP and their second release for the Bristol label. It’s early dubstep and grime energy filtered through the pair’s own optimistic digital futurism—all four tracks squarely aimed at the dancefloor, none of them giving anything away about the people who made them.
Access established the blueprint—gnarled sub bass, jittery percussion and melodic ideas that surface in playful, processed fragments before vanishing again—and SoulCity doesn’t abandon it so much as let it breathe. There’s a new patience in the arrangements: grooves lock in and are given room to roll before the pair begin pulling at them, whilst the deadpan humour that made their breakout EP so distinctive remains fully intact, tempering the menace of the bass with a wink that never quite breaks character.
Opening track Blobject sets the tone, a swung, clattering percussion pattern wrapped around a bassline that rolls between menace and mischief, locked to a half-step groove that nods to dubstep’s earliest days. Soft Core is the most overtly grime-inflected moment, its tight, syncopated hats and elastic sub leaving plenty of space for a wonky, detuned lead to do the damage. LabBaby™ brings the playful side to the fore, jittery digital bleeps and a cartoonish melody twisted into something faintly unsettling above a rolling, shoulder-swinging rhythm. Closer Speedrun is the most urgent of the four, its frantic percussion and pitched-up vocal fragments chasing one another to the finish line at a pace that more than justifies the name.
It’s the combination—deadpan futurism wrapped around genuine Bristol muscle—that makes SoulCity EP such a satisfying listen. Two Shell may remain anonymous, but their sound is becoming increasingly unmistakable. These are tracks that understand exactly what they’re for, and they deliver with wit and weight in equal measure; on this evidence, the duo’s mystery is the only thing about them not already doing its job.
