In recent years the UK’s dance-pop provocateur Shygirl has kept a notably busy schedule, and after delivering her 2022 full-length debut Nymph, she is gearing up for a follow-up titled Swallow! due to arrive next month. We’ve already highlighted her tracks “Alyse” and “Lucky (Hymn),” and yesterday she revealed another striking tune named “Mantra.” Shygirl co-produced “Mantra” with Clams Casino, Jd. Reid, and Karma Kid, crafting a pulsating, breakbeat-driven club anthem that probes the pursuit of transcendence through surrender. Parts of the track feel like intentional nods to Underworld’s classic “Born Slippy (Nuxx).”
As the visuals for Swallow! begin to surface, it appears Shygirl is constructing a full-scale world inhabited by recurring characters. The “Mantra” video, directed by longtime collaborator Austen Taylor Pease, follows Saskia, played by Gala Chambers, as her friends urge her to stay out rather than go home. The night leads them to an outdoor daylight rave, where she loses touch with her companions and forges connections with new faces, including Shygirl’s own character Alyse. Watch it below.
Swallow! arrives 11/6 on Because Music.
