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Shelf Lives have announced their debut album ‘Hypernormal’, describing it as being like “an episode of South Park or Grand Theft Auto but it’s real life”. Check out our chat with the duo below, along with an exclusive first look at the music video for new single ‘2PhoneS’.
The London electro-bass punk duo caught up with NME as they announce their debut album today (Wednesday November 19) and drop the new single as the follow up to ‘like heR’. Set for release on February 26 2026, the 11-track album is produced by imdead and coming via the bands own label, Not Sorry Mom.
Collaborations will come from Danio (Fred Again.., Joy Anonymous) on ‘60K’ and Pat Alvarez (Blessed Madonna, Joy Crookes) and Hot Wax’s Lola Sam on ‘like heR’. Visit here to pre-order.
Speaking to NME about what fans can expect from the record, singer Sabrina Di Giulio and guitarist Jonny Hillyard (who produced the album as imdead) shared that there “are multiple characters of the album”, and that it is like “an episode of South Park or GTA but it’s become real life”.
“All those jokes and caricatures are now real,” they continued. “They are a product of a world where everything and anything is normalised.”
As for what helped inspire the songs, the duo shared that lyrics centre on things like “disillusionment with systems and power structures, autonomy,” as well as “control and rebellion, fragmented identity and disassociation, hyper-femininity as a weapon, self-loathing, and sensory overload.”
The record comes launched by ‘2PhoneS’ – a song grounded in “duality” between “the real and the not real”.
“It’s about the fight between two different parts of yourself,” they told us. “In all honesty we didn’t agree with each other on what song to launch the album with so, the answer to that isn’t straight-forward. We split up multiple times trying to decide. In the end, it’s also the first song on the album so clearly we’re drawn to it. It embodies the strongest characteristics of someone who is hyper-normalised.”
The band went on to clear up a few misconceptions about their authenticity and musicianship.
“There’s a view that we’re not a real band or real musicians because we play live to a drum machine,” they explained. “They think we’re a ‘joke’ or ‘parody’ band maybe because of the humour we inject in our lyrics or delivery of them. We don’t know but, we disagree.”
Shelf Lives are set to open for NME Breakout alumni Karen Dió at The Underworld in London next Tuesday (November 25), before joining Lambrini girls at their final run of 2025 UK shows later in the month and at the beginning of December – before a run of their biggest headline shows yet in 2026. Looking ahead, the band promised new life being infected into the gigs with the flavours of ‘Hypernormal’.
“We’ve been dying to play these new tracks live,” they added. “There’s definitely a higher intensity to them. We identify with the energy of them more than most of our older tracks so whether people like it or not, know it or not, we’ve replaced most of the set with them.”
As the world continues to spin out of control, Shelf Lives vow to “try and stay sane in a culture that is overexposed, exploitative, and performative”. But how?
“Seeing the humour in it,” they replied. “Observing it. Allowing ourselves to feel all the emotions and be aware of them so we can express it. Like a catharsis.”
The duo will kick off their headline tour with an in-store performance in Brighton on February 28 2026, before continuing with shows across the UK and Europe throughout March. Visit here to buy tickets, and find a list of new shows below.
Shelf Lives tour dates are:
NOVEMBER 2025
25 – London, Underworld (/ Karen Dió)
26 – Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree (w/ Lambrini Girls)
28 – Leeds, Project House (w/ Lambrini Girls)
29 – Manchester, O₂ Ritz (w/ Lambrini Girls)
30 – Bristol, Electric (w/ Lambrini Girls)
DECEMBER 2025
1 – Norwich, The Waterfront (w/ Lambrini Girls)
FEBRUARY 2026
28 – Brighton, UK, Brighton Resident (in-store performance)
MARCH 2026
2 – Bristol (outstore at the Louisiana)
3 – Nottingham, Rough Trade (in-store performance)
4 – Liverpool, Rough Trade (in-store performance)
5 – Dublin, Ireland, Grand Social Ballroom
8 – Norwich, UK. Waterfront Studio
10 – Edinburgh, UK, Mash House
11 – Leeds, UK, Oporto
12 – London, UK, The Dome
15 – Paris, France, Petit Bains
16 – Strasbourg, France, La Grenze
18 – Limoges, France, Clam
19 – Angers, France, Chabada
20 – Rouen, France, Le 106
22 – Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paradiso
23 – Nijmegen, Netherlands, Merleyn
The post Shelf Lives tell us about debut album ‘Hypernormal’: “It’s kinda like an episode of ‘South Park’ or ‘GTA’ but it’s become real life” appeared first on NME.