Balderdasch has released ‘Stillness Gyrating,’ a 6-track EP out now on all platforms, and it arrives as one of the more distinctive releases in the experimental pop space this year. Self-produced by Balderdasch with additional production and mixing by Pete Wareham, whose credits include The Smile and Nadine Shah, and mastered by Jamie Hyland of M(h)aol, the record covers avoidant and attached lovers, non-monogamy, and toxic inter-class relationships with wry humor, intimacy, and genuine sonic ambition.
The EP shape-shifts constantly across its runtime, moving from the folk-leaning Joni Mitchell-referencing “seeking arrangements” through the grunge-fueled sample chaos of “pimp” and into the electro-industrial abrasion of “homoerotic.” Brash and sleazy moments sit alongside tenderness and introspection across a record that mirrors the messy, contradictory ways intimacy actually works. Balderdasch is deliberate about the lyrical approach: “I set out to write lines that felt almost embarrassing for me to say out loud, brutally honest moments that make me wince a bit when I hear them back. I’d go on a date, come home and document it, warts and all.”
The EP’s closing track “Not Again, But For The First Time” arrives with a visualiser directed by Matt Spratt, filmed across London as Balderdasch wanders with no fixed destination after finishing an office job. The song details becoming capable of love precisely when there’s nowhere to place it, and the visual captures that aimless composure with real elegance.
Press has been paying attention. BBC Radio 6’s Emily Pilbeam called Balderdasch “quite special.” DIY likens her to Jockstrap and Lynks while noting her own unique take. The Line of Best Fit, RTE 2FM, and Nialler 9 have all added their voices to a growing critical conversation around one of Irish-London experimental pop’s most interesting emerging artists.
‘Stillness Gyrating’ is out now everywhere.