Shopping – “Why Wait?”

Shopping – “Why Wait?”

London post-punk trio Shopping have a lot to say about capitalism. They’re called Shopping, their 2013 debut — just re-released in the U.S. a couple of months ago — was titled Consumer Complaints, and their newest single “Why Wait?” takes on the “instant gratification of the internet age,” as they told The Fader. But their music never comes across as dry or didactic, constantly imbued with an infectiously jittery energy by its knife-sharp riffs, rubbery bass, and primitively driving rhythms. “Why wait? Why choose? Why pay?” they ask on the first song from their upcoming album Why Choose. As bassist Billy Easter writes:

The hyperactivity of the song comes from the kind of fidgety feeling you get when you feel like you wanna watch three YouTube videos at once whilst talking to someone and reading an email while also watching a gif and riding a bus. It’s a song about wanting to break out of, but also being a product of a consumerist, globalized, hyperactive and impatient world — being consumed by a system whilst also harboring an intense desire to freak out and consume everything at once — an insatiable desire to satisfy every greedy whim; to go on some kind of crazed shopping spree then throw it all into the river.

That sounds like heavy stuff — and it is! — but come on, just listen and get into it.

Why Choose is out 10/2 on FatCat.

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