Shiv and the Carvers are choosing action over perfection

Musically,  is as direct as its subject matter. 11 songs fly by in just over 38 minutes, built on big, heavy riffs and hooks that stay in your head, with a hard-rock swagger that nods to the 1970s. The abrasive drive puts the band in the same angry, high-energy territory as Amyl and the Sniffers, with a streak of Bikini Kill in the fury, too. It is rough around the edges but recorded with enough clarity that every riff hits, leaving room for Scott’s voice to cut through with authority and feeling.

For Scott, songwriting is a way of putting intrusive thoughts somewhere outside herself. “It’s helpful to get it out and put it down,” she says; once a song is written, she can perform its anger or sadness without reliving the thought that inspired it. For lead guitarist Nikki Maxwell, it is different: songs that address meaningful histories matter too much to become just another part of the set. “I don’t want to lose that feeling,” she says, and so then starts the work of knowing when to put a song back on the shelf for later and when to reconjure those feelings.

follows two EPs –  (2023) and Tell Me You Love Me Again (2025) – and is the band’s most collaborative release yet, with riffs from everyone, including bassist Annie Jane Marie, who also plays in Dilly Dally, and drummer Mike Wiznuk. Scott and Maxwell wrote the lyrics together, cutting lines that failed to make their point. “We are a DIY band; we do everything ourselves,” Scott says, and Maxwell proves it: she designed the vinyl sleeve and much of the band’s artwork herself. “She’s the coolest design person I know,” Scott adds.

Original source Shiv and the Carvers are choosing action over perfection

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