Quelle Surprise! Enter Shikari discuss disconnection on eighth as it is sent out into the cosmos – all without warning.
~ An Overview
There’s no other way going about it. Enter Shikari are one of the most intriguing bands to step into. On paper, the boys have firmly secured their seats on the post-hardcore table. But with the 200 songs released all being boundless, it can be all too easy to seat them anywhere in the damn room. A beautiful buffet of sound appetite, it cannot be understated how well fed their fans have been over the years. What’s on the menu this time?
Traversing the rough terrain of politically-charged nuances, Shikari’s music has pertained to three ideals: hope, anger and wonder. Across their fuelled, eccentric music style traversing across synth-punk, trance-core and alternative rock of madness, never once have they lost themselves in the noise. Whether it’s the outlandish Juggernaut-anthem or the life affirming spectacle of smell-the-roses romp Live Outside, Enter Shikari have operated outside of the “traditional”, they have fostered a dedicated community that have connected to their work like nothing else.
This sense of community has never been more reaffirmed when the band recently played 400-capacity Satans’ Hollow in Manchester – almost 20 years to the day since their first gig in the city. To any other band, it’s almost unheard of to venture into smaller venues, certainly from a financial perspective. But for Enter Shikari, it just seems like an entirely standard operation of business. Being a pivotal force in supporting grassroot venues since their tenure, Rou, Rory, Chris and Rob will be the first to tell you the importance of community.
Fast forward nineteen years, and that message has never been lost – nor has it lost its spark.
For their eighth, it became apparent that the band wanted to do something a bit different. With the band already reaching the heights of a chart topper with their previous, A Kiss for the Whole World in 2023, one question was asked, “what’s best for the art?” Rou and co came up with a very simple solution – release the album in full. No pre-single, no project build-up, just a bolt out of the blue.
So for Lose Your Self, Enter Shikari release a record as the way as intended: as a cohesive whole.
A centrally dystopian Space-themed record (no doubt helped by Reynolds’ involvement with War of the Worlds theatre production), Lose Your Self tackles the thesis of humanity’s lack of connection to nature. Above all else, it’s a rallying cry to rise above it all and lose that grip that society has on our individual minds. What better way to promote this message than to release a full album out of nowhere, so the community can dive into the great unknown, and experience the joy of listening to it all at once at the same time? The greatest appeal of all.
Lose Your Self (red) shifts all sense to the listener and while it may not be the bands’ most intense spell, it is certainly there most compelling. Another cathartic release to their roster, the boys deliver tropes of hope, anger and wonder in every way imaginable. A unique ensemble of cautionary tales spill into one another adding weight to a damning look at a world becoming more and more dystopian with each passing day. But with any Shikari soundboard, it’s looking directly at the face of adversity and remarkably, coming away gleaming at life. Because despite the album featuring some of their most haunting moments put to paper, it’s still all very uplifting.
Lose Your Self ~ SONG-TO-SONG
There’s not a murmur, nor a stutter. As we’re entrenched into this album with LOSE YOUR SELF. And with no pre-singles to avoid or dart over, we begin the record as all should: at the start.
The albums’ self-titled starter is just about the right way to start a record, least of all a Shikari record. A blurring light of symbiotic synths moving to the same tribal dance, Rou defines the need for said connection amongst a society where technology connection has shut out, seemingly drifted us apart even more so. Find out the Hard Way pleads change before it is too late as the addictive synth lines and euphoric trumpet return before the tracking is torn apart with a gargantuan nu-metal breakdown. Elsewhere, the dark depths of Shikari’s sound continues with Dead in the Water, a harrowing look at refugees drowning in the English Channel as humanity further proves the point of compassion, or lack of: “its no the cold that makes me shiver, its the erosion of my soul.”
The trance effect radiates through enriching follow-up demons, a ‘face your fears’ rhetoric redefined in a Shikari showcase of serving up your own demons’ innards. Before The Flick of A Switch goes on the offensive with a tense and highly addictive chorus line that offers similar remnants to colloquial banger T.I.N.A.
The sardonics of Rou’s lyricism are in full flow with it’s OK. An ironic take on how the world leaders see the planet as their own playground, Rou takes hits at hoarding wealth, misgivings and throwing stones. As it happens in real time, the rest of us look the other way; because its far easier to ignore than to admit to themselves that it’s real – “I just had dinner so world hunger’s myth.” [Sidenote: has Rou confirmed yet if the twisted naked mole rat is Donald Trump? Please let it be so.]
Shipwrecked! sees some of the most damning riffs and lyrics alike that Shikari have put together. It’s heavily effective and systematically on the edge. Theorising despair is not necessarily a new emotion explored by the band, but its certainly a first being this deep into a record of theirs without hearing any ounce of fight back.
Luckily, the albums’ final frontier via the three-parter is this records’ true search of light in the dark. In keeping with Carl Sagan’s theory of our world being a speck of dust in a beam of light, herein on Spaceship Earth, lies hope.
Of course, space is not necessarily a new theme to tackle for Rou and company. 2010’s Tribalism included life-saving mission We Can Breathe in Space before 2012’s Constellations saw beauty in the unknown. 2016’s Redshift cascaded in, discussing the very nature of our existence and even inspired satelittes* * on 2020’s Nothing is True… told us to embrace love of all kinds.
No doubt enthralled by the chance of rediscovery and understanding it offers, it’s nice to see Rou’s love for space has not diminished, neither has his desire to make seismic epics, unbound by restrictions. Amongst the glitched synths and explosive instrumentals, it tussles with this untempered feeling of misunderstanding, as Rou laments rather angrily, “We’re barely out the cot on this pale blue dot.” The second part sees Rou at his most confused, lost before we’re promised in the third part with “A change is gonna come, my love” just before space itself distills the quiet. It’s a real tussle of emotions as it comes to terms with everything before us.
After all years, Enter Shikari still resemble the torchbearers in a world with next to no light. After all these years, Enter Shikari still resemble brilliance.
Unsurprisingly so, LOSE YOUR SELF sees Enter Shikari at their lowest in temperament. A startling demonstration on today’s society, the four forever remain steadfast through a cacophony of heavy instrumentation and conclusive insights. It may not be the bands’ most wholly-complete album, in terms of musical prowess, but its theme, concept and plight set it to a high enough standard.
Despite the facing quandry, the band deliver a record at their most concise and damaging.
Before we waltz off the face of the Earth for the last time, just ask yourself – “was it all worth it in the end?”
mvm 
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