‘Swallow’, as defined by Merriam-Webster, can refer to either the feathered avian or the act of consuming, of taking something in. On her second album, has managed to cultivate a sound that is equal parts electronically gritty and viscerally erotic, whilst also playing with the double entendre of its title.
Like a swallow returning to its native habitat, Shygirl arrives weathered but not diminished. The album sees her return to familiar aural territory, revisiting the roots of her indie childhood, soundtracked by artists like , albeit with a renewed sense of self. Yet this is no passive homecoming: Shy doesn’t invite us to feed back her sound. With an assuredness that , she makes us take it in.
“I’m so lucky, but I’m not. It’s the faith run through me,” she sings, suggesting that the luck we attribute to fate might have more to do with the belief we place in ourselves. This intersection between serendipity and self-determination runs through tracks like ‘Live The Life You Like’, where she asks, “Why so confident? Why so assured?” The questions read as both interrogative and rhetorical, making it difficult to distinguish whether she is challenging the listener or herself.
Elsewhere, ‘Altar’ maintains the almost spiritual undertones of the album’s expressive language. Its title evokes devotion, sacrifice and the emotional limbo of coveting a lover, where longing threatens to become its own form of worship. Choral echoes and piercing violin splinters heighten the sense of yearning.
“Tell me how can I / How can I be without you / There’s not another night / That I can sleep / Here without you,” she sings. The sentiment is familiar, but its delivery feels almost unguarded. For an artist whose work has so often revelled in the visceral pleasures of desire, echoing the sounds of a Y2K nightclub, there is something striking about hearing her sit with its less glamorous consequences, accompanied by a fittingly subdued soundscape. Where her debut felt like the high, ‘SWALLOW!’ feels like the afters: the pulse hasn’t quite settled, and the feelings that were once easier to muffle are now impossible to ignore.
8/10
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