Frost Children - SISTER Review
Self-assured EDM soundscapes go up against feelings of relationship insecurity and self-doubt on SISTER, the third full-length offering from cult favourites Frost Children.
The first time I listen to SISTER in full, it’s through a pair of rose-gold wired earphones I panic-purchased for £3.99 after the untimely death of my Sony headphones. It’s not the optimal listening experience, but I’d like to think that it’s exactly how Frost Children intended for their euphoric, dubstep-indebted third album to be heard.
“I make it look so easy to live” the duo declare between champagne toasts and shimmering electronica on the album’s first track, ‘Position Famous’. It’s a bold opening statement, and one that they set out to prove on SISTER, with a newly self-assured mix of pulsing beats, sugary synths and vocals that flip-flop between emo and effortlessly cool.
‘Ralph Lauren’ is an example of the latter, a true relic of the Brat era which finds Angel and Lulu Prost linking up with trusted collaborator and it boy Babymorocco. Shrugged descriptions of glamorous girls in up-dos and Jack Wills skirts are paired with cut-up vocals and an unrelenting beat, each element cementing the trio as the best of the sleaze revival. The moody vulnerability of ‘4ME’ and the swerving soundscape that sits beneath ‘ELECTRIC’ exists as further proof, too. But Frost Children never rest too hard on today’s currency of cool.
In fact, they work far outside of it. If you took away the glitching electronica of lead single ‘CONTROL’, the vocals might seem better placed in an emo or pop-punk tune. The title track exists in the same realm, strained vocals resting up against unsubtle beats and acoustic strums more akin to an Alex G project. Other tracks lean further into less trendy forms of electronica, less XCX and more Skrillex.
Frost Children drag elements of dubstep and EDM into view on ‘Dirty Girl’ and ‘WHAT IS FOREVER FOR’. They’re songs that feel far too big to listen to through shitty earphones, better suited to the soundsystems boasted by the electronic festivals of an era gone by. It’s this commitment to their sonic roots, this willingness to experiment with every facet of their musical interest and their ability to pull it off almost every time, that maintains Frost Children a place of their own in their scene.
Intense and uncompromisingly individual, SISTER is completely lacking in artistic doubt. Frost Children take every creative inclination to its extreme, trusting their taste and process implicitly. But that trust in themselves doesn’t necessarily extend to the lyricism on this record.
The duo’s self-assuredness in the studio doesn’t quite translate to the themes of SISTER, which actually find Frost Children struggling to keep it together in their personal lives. Amidst odes to dubstep and collaborations with the new age of cult popstars, the pair hide cries for help and admissions of self-doubt beneath bold beats and layers of autotune. “I don’t know how to face myself,” they admit on ‘Blue Eyes’, a statement completely at odds with the sound of the record.
‘Don’t make me cry’ finds the pair avoiding a crash out by keeping themselves busy between unrelenting dubstep, while ‘4ME’ wonders what comes after the afters, acknowledging that the apparent heaven of guestlist spots and friends made in club toilets only go so far. When the party’s over, Frost Children wonder, how much of that connection, that heaven, remains? “I’m on my knees and I beg, will you be there for me in the end?” they ask in one of the gentlest moments of the record.
This contrast between sound and sentiment leaves SISTER in a simultaneous state of vulnerability and conviction. Frost Children are at their strongest sonically, in the depths of their love affair with EDM and the height of their artistic integrity, but they use those bold soundscapes as an outlet and an attempt to forge some real sense of connection. The doubt they feel in their relationships, in their lifestyles, and in themselves forces its way through the assuredness of their sound, and the result is a stellar offering to the modern electronic sphere. No matter how confident your favourite popstar seems, no matter how easy they make living look, those struggles with identity are universal.