Invigorating vim is the calling card of British post-punk trio Shopping, whose sound across any of their three albums to date would slot neatly into an indie DJ set from the mid-00s, when the modern punk-funk of New Young Pony Club, Bloc Party or the DFA stable rubbed up against the OG likes of Delta 5, the Au Pairs and Gang of Four.
The template is polished on their fourth record, more frenetic and kinetic than ever on the disco-pogoing Initiative and Follow Me, with its gnarly guitar effects. Whether you meet All Or Nothing with the same energy depends on your hunger for more of a style already so thoroughly revived; for an album whose songs champion agency and resistance, its sounds are somewhat off-the-shelf.
Shopping are particularly indebted to the rigid funkiness and barbed cultural critique of Gang of Four on the itchily intellectual likes of Expert Advice (“can you rely on this narration?”), albeit with a shot of Gossipy pop pep. Still, the harum-scarum interplay of male and female vocals against the staccato guitar of No Apologies, or the naive synths of For Your Pleasure, create an impetus that is, at moments, irresistible.
