Things haven’t gone swimmingly for 22-year-old Shamir Bailey since he made a splash with his 2015 debut, Ratchet. The androgynous Las Vegan was dropped by his record label and hospitalised with mental-health issues. However, strife has produced a rebirth. The debut’s shimmering postmodern disco has been ditched for a lo-fi but somehow bigger sound, which mixes Pixies-type basslines and skyscraping, 60s girl-group pop. The countertenor sings with an emotional, otherworldly raw power, whether he is conducting an imaginary conversation with an industry exec who dumped him (Games) or beautifully musing on coping with stress and pressure (Cloudy). The ethereal Straight Boy extols “The pull of contradiction”, and if 90’s Kids’s defence of modern youth can feel a bit pat, his big heart’s in the right place. The fantastic Blooming’s Ronettes-meets-Ramones pop roars outsider defiance into what could be the album’s manifesto: “I’m too strong to just lay down and die.”
