New York's Eartheater and London's Shygirl make perfect sense as collaborators. They both use big, sweeping club-pop sounds in ways that can be insular and experimental. They both work with tons of different artists. They're apparently friends. Their paths have overlapped a few times. In 2023, for instance, Eartheater remixed Shygirl's "Wildfire." Last year, both of them DJ'ed alongside Björk at the same Brooklyn event. And today, Eartheater and Shygirl release their first-ever proper collaborations.
Eartheater and Shygirl team up on both tracks from the new two-song single "Shark Brain" b/w "Dolphin." Officially, both of these marine-life songs are Eartheater tracks that feature Shygirl. Eartheater co-produced both of them -- "Shark Brain" with Andy Morin, "Dophin" with Tony Seltzer and Inef Coupe. Both songs layer the two artists' vocals over evocatively gothy electronic tracks -- a very different vision of club music than what Shygirl presented on her Club Shy Room 2 EP last month. Here's what Eartheater says about it:
I made "Shark Brain" five years ago and played it live enough times that my fans would ask for it. However, it was just one of those songs I didn’t know if I’d ever release. Eventually, it even got leaked, which is why, I assume, my fans seem to know all the words already. I was originally inspired to write the song when I discovered the uncanny resemblance a hammerhead shark brain has to the female reproductive system. Years later, I found out that a dolphin’s bones in their fins highly resemble those of a human hand. I was in the studio with Shy one day, and she was very into my idea to pair these songs together as an A / B side and quickly put down her verses.
Listen to both tracks below.
The "Shark Brain" b/w "Dolphin" single is out now on Chemical X. I accidentally typed the non-word "Earthgirl" at least three times while writing this post, so if Eartheater and Shygirl make more music together, that should be their duo name.
