Lo-fi pop star Shura’s early singles – the somnolent longing of Touch, the drip-feed 2Shy – suggested she’d found her calling in tactile, slow-burn growers. Debut album Nothing’s Real, however, fleshes out those songs with bold nods to disco (the excellent What’s It Gonna Be?), 80s rom-com soundtrack indie (What Happened to Us?) and, on White Light, psychedelic noodling. Throughout there’s real emotional weight to the lyrics, the fizzing title track detailing a panic attack that landed her in hospital, while Indecision and Kidz ‘n’ Stuff pinpoint the awkwardness of relationships in expert detail. Peppered throughout with snippets of audio from old home videos, Nothing’s Real feels like a properly curated album, and one of the year’s best.
