Spook Muziek Returns with New EP ‘pop culture’

Following a productive 2024, which saw the release of his debut EP, OK Lucky Golden Gone, the intriguing collaborative project Spook Muziek vs JMS, a surprising alliance with his fierce rival and long-term lover, Sheffield’s very own Spook Muziek is back with a fresh offering. This May, he dropped pop culture, an EP stripped back to basics, showcasing a solitary artist grappling with his shortcomings across six eclectic tracks.

Unlike previous works peppered with guest appearances and collaborations, pop culture is an unfiltered glimpse into Spook’s personal journey. It’s a concept EP, tracing a timeline of self-reflection and candid emotion. The narrative arcs from youthful schoolyard crushes in the nostalgic retcon age, to unexpected vulnerability in lads don’t cry, where Spook openly admits to tears shed over films, right through to the fog of apathy and indecision captured on maybe!.

Musically, pop culture is a wonderfully chaotic blend of woozy synths, rumbling basslines, and erratic, scatterbrained beats that underpin a tapestry of half-sincere truths and raw, unpolished ramblings. The sonic palette mirrors the confessional tone. Spook’s vocals meander through whatever sounds happen to escape his mouth, creating an intimate, sometimes awkward, but always genuine listening experience.

In Spook’s own words: “I don’t know much, but what I do know is that I needed to record these songs before it’s too late. i.e. before I’m dead.” At 41 years old and with no known underlying health conditions, the artist’s urgency to share these songs feels less like a race and more like a poignant statement on mortality and self-expression.

Will pop culture propel Spook Muziek to mainstream stardom? Unlikely. Will it change your life? Also, no. But it offers something perhaps rarer in today’s music scene, honest, unvarnished art from an artist unafraid to lay bare his imperfections.

Spook Muziek may not be your typical chart-topping hero, but his latest EP pop culture certainly reinforces his status as Sheffield’s answer to Alex Turner, a singular voice weaving complexity and charm in equal measure.