Sort Stjerne! (Black Star! in English, possibly a Bowie reference [citation needed]) is the final album from Swedish alternative pop and rock artist ShitKid, or as her parents call her, Åsa Söderqvist. ShitKid came to the fore back in 2016 after the feminist punk band she had previously been a part of split when one of their members opted to start a family.
The first release by Åsa as ShitKid was a self-titled EP, recorded and mixed on a broken and busted laptop. The album made an immediate splash, and for good reason. The highly imaginative, three-track release had a dreamy aura and an elastic persona- slingshotting between bruised and fat-lipped garage rock and sweaty, acid-washed post-punk; it improbably presented familiar sounds with a brash, mystifying charm.
After an extremely busy 2020 where ShitKid released both her debut LP (Fish), its slick and polished sequel (20/20), and a straight-ahead rock EP called Crotchrock, she gave the project the ax. She cashed in her chips and took a long silent drive home. But not before reissuing their EP This Is It on vinyl, as well as a final, 23-track LP, Sort Stjerne!
This may seem like a dawn out farewell for a project that was abruptly sacked mid-stride, but it’s all feels very necessary at the end of the day. Especially when considering that fact that Sort Stjerne! kind of works as a historical document as well as an album, filling in gaps and fissures in our understanding of how ShitKid’s sound has evolved over the years.
Sort Stjerne! ‘s tracklist consists of unreleased tracks recorded across the span of ShitKid’s four-year career and bears the marks of her many influences. While ShitKid has often praised Jack White and The White Stripes in interviews, the directness of their inspiration on her sound has never been more apparent than on tracks like the bluesy, love-struck fever of “79tempo” or the hot, bullwhip bite of “Fall into place.”
Beyond ’00s garage rock, ShitKid also draws heavily from ’90s alternative rock, exemplified by tracks like “dark feelings” which takes on the quality of a particularly rough but undeniably catchy Smashing Pumpkins single, “real studio” which slithers out of your speakers like the personification of one of Kim Deal’s nightmares, and “hey, what’s the use” which could pass for a surprisingly relaxed Donita Sparks vocal take. Other highlights include, the sand crawling rumble of “round the beach,” the blazing melo-punk sear of “Long Lasting Love (I’ve become a fucking witch!),” and the sassy, messy and melodic croon of “Single (back 2).
The liner notes for Sort Stjerne! are pretty emphatic that the album is the last release from ShitKid, which is no more as of this year. There is such a fine point on these statements, and they repeat themselves so often for emphasis, that it causes me to view them with more than a little skepticism.
Almost like ShitKid is telling you that she’s done only to induce a thousand spit takes when she announces a world tour with Best Coast two weeks later. You don’t name yourself ShitKid if you are not possessed of a sense of humor, and I suspect that she might return at some point just to see the incredulous look on people’s faces after telling them, with the utmost sincerity, that it would never, ever, happen. But even if this is the final chapter in the ShitKid saga, it’s a very fine and satisfying farewell.
Buy and stream Sort Stjerne! below via Bandcamp:
Buy Sort Stjerne! on vinyl here.
