Shakka: Cabin Fever EP Review
Chaos and uncertainty amidst the coronavirus pandemic have insisted normalcy in our lives, as much as we have tried to reject their advances. At a time where our limiting movement and stillness is lifesaving, we’ve also been attuning to the lethargy of a pandemic-induced frequency that is hard to switch. How fortunate are we for music to be our ambassador that can wrestle against the strangeness and banality we feel?
For UK R&B artist, Shakka, he gives the stir-crazy frequency a name on his fifth EP, Cabin Fever.
“Trunk full of groceries. Twitter’s gone crazy. No more “call-up” booty,” he observably sings on the opener “Staying at Home”.
The 11-minute, 5-track project journeys us into the multi-hyphenate, singer-songwriter-producer’s (sub)conscious acceptance of this jarring new way of being, while simultaneously chronicling our own vulnerable states of boredom and restlessness.
Expressed on his IG post as a batch of Quarantine Diary freestyles, Cabin Fever is consonant in rhythm and melody, smartly evoking the ennui of confinement. The fizzing, barbershop-style harmonies keep the gradual tempo, but where Shakka radiates is his lyrical storytelling and vocal flexibility. Listeners will succumb to his mesmerizing vocal runs throughout the EP, which float above the intended uniformity.
The second track, “Tryna Look Good”, opines about the quarantine upending our usual beauty maintenance and self-care routines, especially when talking to bae on Facetime. “Phone in her left, cause she tryna hide her nail that she broke today, like why today? Like I ain’t feel the same. I haven’t had a fade in like 40 days, 40 days,” Shakka laments.
“Everyday Feels the Same” can’t shake the irritability of our quarantining days bleeding into the next. Shakka even refuses to chat with friends who carry on the same boring convos. “Ask something more than ‘how’s your day’ or call me in a week after you’ve seen a movie or something.”
Luckily some of his trusted friends can do more than small talk, as Shakka invites fellow singer Donae’O, a veteran of the UK funky house scene and new UK artist and producer Happi, to remix “Staying at Home”.
The Cabin Fever EP is Shakka’s keepsake of an unnatural, anxiety-ridden time in our global history and consciousness, giving us permission to shake our heads in unison at the blahs of a now quarantine life.