IDER: ‘SHAME’ ALBUM REVIEW
Boundless, sharp and self-aware. Alternative duo, IDER, unleash their stunning second album.
Image Credit: Dani Monteiro
It’s been two years since we last heard from limitless alt-pop duo IDER, with their beautifully reflective debut album ‘Emotional Education’. Touching on the harsh realities of growth, low self esteem and self-criticism, the record lived up to its ‘does-what-it-says-on-the-tin’ title, catching us all in our tracks and forcing us to turn our attention inwards. However, just when we thought IDER couldn’t teach us anymore life lessons, the pair have returned with urgent vocals, intimate harmonies and experimental production for us to latch onto, relate to and learn from.
The pair’s brand new album, ‘shame’, starts with ‘Cross Yourself’, a track which is laced with musicality that feels like home to IDER fans; the isolated harmonic vocals feel as if you’re sat beside the duo of Meg Markwick and Lily Somerville. The track is the idyllic representation of the band’s curious nature, exploring the millennial relationship with social media, belief systems and where we find safety, comfort and reassurance: “Pretending to be cynical, gimme something spiritual / We need something physical, but faith is still invisible / Can't find it on Instagram and I'm still f****** miserable”. Instantly, we are hit with the pair’s fearless attitude to questioning reality, but the track simultaneously celebrates the shortcomings that make us all human.
Image Credit: Dani Monteiro
Whilst Markwick and Somerville are unapologetically unafraid of exploring human conditioning throughout their lyricism, there’s a similar boundless energy in their approach to production in ‘shame’ too. Whilst ‘Emotional Education’ was previously supported by Glassnote Records, album two has driven closer to the pair’s original roots as a duo creating music in their bedrooms at university. Whilst they may have upgraded from their university halls to their current flat (situated in a converted sewing factory in Bethnal Green), the childlike wonder of experimental production and two best friends telepathically understanding each other is still very much present in IDER’s work. The record was birthed out of a lockdown spent in their home studio (merged with their self-created home-pub), leaving plenty of room for the musicians to let themselves go on the desk. This is evident on the album in the delicacy of ‘Midland’s Guilt’, the thunderous Berlin bass of ‘Cross Yourself’, and the boogie-inducing beat of ‘cbb to b sad’. The beauty of IDER is in their refreshing, limitless nature and it seems that writing and producing in their home environment has pushed them to a whole new level of intimacy and authenticity.
The range and sense of freedom amongst the track list of ‘shame’ is fluid and fun, weaving together seamlessly. With words addressing the likes of the sickening addiction to your partner in monogamous relationships (‘obsessed’), alongside discussing divine femininity and everything that’s wrongly-functional in society (‘BORED’); you’ve got yourself an album rooted in defiant acceptance and knowingness. There's a notable new wave of artists singing fewer love songs and challenging the romanticisation of writing lyrics, but it feels like IDER have set a new bar of entering the dark depths of the mind and existence. The album is more than a hug or a handhold; it’s a deep conversation you’d normally have in the dark under your bed covers - but in beautiful, blaring daylight.
Following IDER through their whole catalogue of work, from their hazy days as Cornish folk duo Lily and Meg, to their now bustling city lives full of abundance, there’s an evolution to be appreciated. It’s warming to imagine IDER as their younger folklore selves as they break such defiant boundaries today. It feeds the humbling spirit of the band and motivates us as listeners to trust the process and recognise how much room we have to grow. As a project, ‘shame’ is no exception to this journey; it’s invigoratingly direct, and the epitome of self-acceptance. And so, as we are fed the latest chapter of the pair’s adventure, we are left as equally excited as we were before we heard it, anticipating what more IDER have to say.
‘shame’ is available now on all streaming platforms.
