I first discovered Stockholm-based four-piece Clutter at the beginning of last year, when I reviewed their debut single ‘Jesus’, and I fell in love with the fuzzy, distorted 90s-influenced sound enough that I also reviewed a live show at The Lexington. Seeing them live confirmed them as a band on my ‘To Keep On My Radar’ list, as although the set was short, it was powerful and like a shot of adrenaline to my veins.
So when the opportunity came up to review their debut album Sugar Rush, I couldn’t wait to hear it – and it was not a disappointment.
It kicks off with ‘GirlVsHeart’, a chaotic, fuzz-filled song which is, in fact, a love song – something that wouldn’t be immediately obvious from its sound, but this is love done in Clutter style. It starts with the first sparks of a crush: ‘I wanna look fresh, I wanna look cool, do you think I’m beautiful?’ before moving towards love itself with ‘There’s some things you can’t destroy, our love forever boy.’
The first few songs have a speed and sense of urgency about them, but then we get to ‘Hello Kitty’, where things are taken down a notch into a more 90s-influenced grunge sound. But the calmer sound doesn’t stay for long, as then ‘Pop Rock Sugar Rush’ kicks in – a speed demon. One of my personal favourites, this is a punk song about friendship, and it has exactly the sort of energy that makes you want to turn the volume up and throw yourself around the room.
That ability to switch between chaos and something more melodic or reflective is one of the things I really like about Sugar Rush. ‘Robot’ is a great example. It’s a fuzzy, distorted and almost mechanical-sounding song about a girl falling in love with a robot, with the riffs feeling like they’re mimicking the movements of the machine itself. There’s a tongue-in-cheek element to the lyrics – ‘I need someone artificial, when can we make this official?’ – which gives the song a playful take on our increasingly technological world. As the song progresses, the drums become increasingly intense, adding to that sense of machinery going slightly haywire.
‘Grease Baby’ takes us somewhere completely different. This is a warm, summery song about yearning for something more without quite knowing what that something is. It’s incredibly visual, with images of late-night dinners on balconies, Greek white wine, bread and cheese, creating a picture of a seemingly perfect summer. But underneath all of that sunshine is insecurity and longing. It feels like a happy-sad song – admiring someone else’s life while quietly comparing it to your own and wondering whether you should want something different.
Then there’s ‘C.L.U.T.T.E.R.’, which is a proper banger. I love this one. It feels almost like a theme song for the band, with its repeated spelling of C-L-U-T-T-E-R and the lyrics ‘we dance to become bizarre’ and ‘spin to forget who you are’. The song is actually about being in a band as well as being out on a night out, and those two worlds seem to collide perfectly. It has that feeling of just letting go, dancing, being ridiculous and forgetting yourself for a while.
There’s a much darker and slower side to Clutter too. ‘I Wish I Could Get It Together’ slows things right down into an experimental, eerie folk-influenced song. It has a fuzzy quality to it, but it’s much more atmospheric than some of the album’s faster tracks, with an eerie whistling section towards the end that adds to the unsettling feeling.
‘Unbothered’ continues some of the album’s more reflective themes, taking the form of a ballad about wanting something more. That sense of yearning appears in a few places across Sugar Rush, but it never feels like Clutter are simply repeating themselves. Instead, it becomes another side to an album that is constantly shifting between confidence, uncertainty, chaos and vulnerability.
And that feels like the real appeal of Sugar Rush to me. There is plenty here for anyone who likes their music loud, fuzzy and full of energy, but Clutter aren’t afraid to pull everything back either. One minute you’re being hit by distorted guitars and frantic punk energy, and the next you’re somewhere much softer, stranger or more introspective.
Having already seen Clutter live, I could hear that same shot of adrenaline I got from their live set in these songs, but Sugar Rush also gives us more space to see what’s underneath that energy. This is an album about growing up, relationships, identity and figuring out how to become an adult without completely losing the person you were before.
And perhaps that is what makes Sugar Rush such an enjoyable listen. It’s messy, noisy, fuzzy, vulnerable and playful – sometimes all at once – but it never feels like Clutter are trying to have everything figured out. They’re figuring it out as they go, and inviting us along for the ride.
If you like your punk with plenty of fuzz, grunge, catchy hooks and a healthy dose of chaos, Clutter are definitely a band worth keeping on your radar. Sugar Rush has definitely confirmed why I put them on my personal radar in the first place.
Sugar Rush is out now via PNKSLM Recordings and you can check it out here
Clutter Socials- Instagram
Review by Hayley Foster da Silva
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