Fcukers – “Ö”

Formed in 2022, Fcukers is an electronic duo composed of Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis, two of the most effortlessly cool people. They are in their own world, tuning out the external noise and trends to make music they want to dance to. In one sense, it seems like they have no conception of what is popular or what is happening yet still manage to harness exactly what the audience wants with each release. Ö is no different.

The songs feel familiar, playing on our sense of 90s nostalgia, but with an uncertainty that keeps you engaged from the first song. Citing the New York music scene of that decade as inspiration, Fcukers has a rich reservoir to pull from. And you can hear it through the record’s breakbeats and the hip-hop inspired production — no doubt influenced by the track’s producer, Kenneth Blume, formerly known as Kenny Beats, one of the most prolific producers in the hip-hop scene who’s been slowly transitioning into more experimental projects. His works are durable, original, and one of a kind, each with their own collage of disparate elements.

His inclination for the innovative aligned with Fcukers’ appetite for the unconventional. Ö teases us at just under thirty minutes, leaving us wanting more. Its wide range doesn’t yank us from one genre to another but smoothly glides us through their sonic headspace. We’re getting the modern, nonchalant, airy voice of Wise akin to PinkPantheress or Alice Phoebe Lou (depending on the track) over a deep bassline and dance tempos. The high energy opener of Beatback primes the listener’s ears for a slightly sleazy, uber-synthed, and extremely funky album. It seamlessly transitions into L.U.C.K.Y, a playful and colourful  track.

Then we hit the dreamspace of Butterflies, which almost sounds like the electronic club remix of a 90s R&B hit that would’ve played on loop on MTV. It gives way to the rapid acceleration of if you wanna party, come over to my house. It’s a song you dance to faster and faster each time the lyrics repeat and you don’t realise it slowing down until the very end, mostly because you don’t want the party to be over. Luckily, it’s just getting started when Play Me swoops in with intense drum and bass offering an outlet for all the pent up energy. Changing course slightly, Shake It Up reminds more of Donna Summer’s 80s disco track I Feel Love but with a 2000s electronic club composition.

Picking up the tempo again, I Like It Like That feels like the natural peak of the album with its high BPM, spine-chilling beat drop, and whispers of reggae that tease us in the most exciting way. TTYGF opens with featured Caribbean-Canadian artist, Skiifall’s signature reggae-dancehall sound with a heavy bassline as a backdrop. This track scratches a genre-bending itch I didn’t even know I had. Its moody and dark vibe is contrasted by the next track’s faster-paced rhythm.

Lonely is interrupted by intense bass throughout the song, but it feels like just that — an interruption. Meanwhile Getaway and Feel The Real seem like a slow descent into Wise’s and Lewis’ alternative indie roots, rounding out the album as one long club night that eventually comes to a calm, satisfied ending. It’s a night most of us have only had a few times in our lives, but Fcukers’ debut album now allows us to indulge in it every day.

Ö keeps up with the duo’s trajectory to being one of the most inventive groups. Their ample music knowledge and familiarity with club culture puts them in a prime position to keep their finger on the pulse of underground music while straddling massive success. Now embarking on their American and European tour with stints at Primavera Sound and opening for Harry Styles in Brazil, Fcukers is giving everyone a taste of what it means to reinvent the sounds of the past and set the pace of the future.