French electro-rock outfit THIS IS SHIT (or TH/S /S SH/T as they are also known) have released their hypnotic new single ‘Blue Nine’ and its definitely not shit!
‘Blue Nine’ is more than a song, it’s a signal picked up from our own future, something that survived and caught its breath again. The track steps away from expected formats: it builds in stages, letting electro and rock search for a common frequency before fully locking into sync in the song’s final stretch.
The phantasmagoric video, directed by INFRAROUGE, ventures into a territory no camera could have reached. Red neons, liquid chrome, architectures that exist nowhere: INFRAROUGE builds a world of its own, coherent down to its smallest details, where photorealism keeps slipping into hallucination. These aren’t effects layered onto real footage, it’s an entire geography, born elsewhere, that never had a filmed version.
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THIS IS SHIT are set to return for 2026 with their second album ΛV coming on 30th October and like the slanted signs of ΛV (pronounced “lambda V”) that invert and mirror each other, this new record interlocks two aesthetics that were never meant to coexist: rock and electronic music. A formula unique to THIS IS SHIT.
Behind this graphic project with its sharply crafted artistic direction stands composer Loïc Louraco. Driven by the need not to choose between two radically different ways of creating : rock, which he has practiced his entire life, and electronic music, which he explores in parallel, he formed a hybrid creation in 2017: a trio in which he is both producer and principal instrumentalist. And thus sparked the collision between the two worlds.
A signature sound first discovered by audiences through the EPs / (“Slash”) and // (“Double Slash”) in 2018, followed by the album /// (“Triple Slash”), which concluded a first creative cycle in 2020.
After a challenging start to the decade, the artist entered a new writing phase that stretched over several months. Born from improvisations or long nights of production on Ableton, the tracks were pushed to their limits. The sound is more controlled, the album more impactful. For this new project, THIS IS SHIT chose to take production even further by collaborating with Swedish producer Hans Olsson (Division of Laura Lee).
An initial studio session in Paris allowed the three musicians to record, in a traditional rock band setting, guitars, bass, and drums. The tracks were then sent to Gothenburg, where they were reworked by the producer and director as a temporary electronic duo. The collaboration felt natural, and the results fruitful, bringing a unique coherence to this new release. Like a film soundtrack, ΛV carries the listener from scene to scene, from emotions to sensations, from celebrations to contemplation, in a continuous, unbroken flow between tracks.
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Photo credit: Christophe Crénel
