ECCA VANDAL

LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW

[Loma Vista]

The music world stood still when 'White Flag' dropped in 2015. It was Ecca Vandal's third single offering in as many months, but this one, for whatever reason, felt genuinely exciting. Here was an artist seemingly unburdened by genre, able to fuse punk energy, hip-hop swagger and alternative rock muscle into something that felt entirely her own. She was a spark ready to blow. Jump forward two years and her debut album is released featuring many cutting-edge jams, but one in particular with Sampa The Great, 'My Orbit', struck this scribe between the eyes. A sign that Ecca's punk penchant also lay in other genres, but was equally exciting. A trait Ecca seems to have built her entire career on.

There was already evidence mounting that this was one very special artist still in the making. One that understood the most punk thing an artist can do is trust their own instincts, offering a masterclass in badass leadership right out of the gates.

Fast forward a massive nine years following a self-imposed sabbatical from both music and social media and Ecca continues to bounce with authority between alternative rock, hip-hop, hardcore and even bhangra. In recent years she's supported major alt-rock and metal acts, most notably playing direct support for Deftones on their Australian arena tour and Limp Bizkit on the global Loserville tour which, without any insult to her at all, makes a hell of a lot of sense. If you've ever seen Ecca Vandal perform, you'll know exactly what I mean.

This refusal to sit still and produce genuinely exciting music remains the molten core of Ecca Vandal LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW. We've had appearances here and there in the intervening years, but this particular campaign kicked off around 12 months ago with one kick-ass tune and a series of simple but effective visuals for first drop, 'CRUISING TO SELF SOOTHE'. They might not have been made for the algorithm, but the algorithm sure did eat it up.

Recorded and produced over two years by Vandal and Richie Buxton from his childhood bedroom, the album is raucous, playful, brazen and proudly disillusioned with anything remotely algorithm-friendly.

There's a deliberate refusal here to sand down the edges. The record lunges, sneers and shape-shifts with the energy of someone actively kicking against neat categorisation.

It's less like a conventional alternative record and more like a beautifully controlled detonation. If comparisons are necessary, there are fleeting echoes of M.I.A.'s genre-defying fearlessness, the brute force of Nova Twins and the volatility of Turnstile at their most adventurous. Yet none of those references are fair nor truly stick to Ecca Vandal. She remains a singular voice, thrillingly herself, setting the standard for what Australian artists mean when they speak of a global vision.

The opening stretch is brutally brilliant, immediately establishing the album's intent, flowing seamlessly without breaks as guitars snarl, beats collide and Vandal attacks each track with the conviction of an artist entirely comfortable in her own skin. The apocalyptic 'VERTICAL WORLDS' is an urgent and frustrated call to arms, shedding old skin in search of something new. 'BLEED BUT NEVER DIE' lands like a hard mission statement, reflecting the album's overall lyrical purpose.

Every song in this stretch is impossibly flawless. The aforementioned 'CRUISING TO SELF SOOTHE' feels like the hero of the opening run, but then 'MOLLY' cuts through with the most pop-perfect melodies of the lot, twisting between menace and some kind of release.

Side two is something of a different suite of songs, again bouncing buoyantly from one to the next, but the sounds are less punk and more atmospheric industrial hip-hop and R&B. But also, nothing quite like either.

'OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY' provides that release, its mechanical beats and grooves bridging the record towards 'LEVITATE 1 + 2'. We're properly down with the R&B grooves by this point, but somehow it remains every bit as defiant.

The most stunning transition arrives roughly halfway through the record. The 40-second instrumental title track acts as a bridge into the bhangra-flavoured 'THEN THERE'S ONE', resulting in one of the album's most thrilling mergers. If only traffic merged that well. Elsewhere, dancehall seems to be alive and well on 'DO IT ANYWAY', while 'BLEACH' is so effortlessly cool it feels like a track Nicki Minaj would happily swipe if she thought she could get away with it. Vandal then closes the record with 'CAME HERE FOR THE LOOT', singing with vulnerability and an open heart and offering one final reminder that beneath all the swagger, experimentation and controlled chaos lies an exceptional songwriter.

Credit must also go to Buxton's production. Records this adventurous shouldn't flow this smoothly, yet every left turn feels intentional, every beat lands exactly where it should and every genre detour somehow strengthens the journey. His ability to build atmosphere from chaos is one of the album's greatest strengths, transforming an already ambitious collection of songs into a genuinely immersive experience.

What makes LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW such a compelling and essential listen isn't simply its eclecticism. Plenty of artists blend genres. You'll need to listen to a lot of records to find many who do it half as well, or with this level of fluency and conviction. Every stylistic left turn feels both earned and owed simultaneously, because the emotional through-line remains so strong. Whether she's rapping, singing or screaming, Vandal sounds completely committed to the moment.

And what a voice she has become.

Lyrically, Vandal continues to sharpen her reputation as one of Australia's most uncompromising artists. Much of the record grapples with identity, performance, burnout and the exhausting theatre of modern life. The album title itself doubles as both punchline and manifesto. In an era where everyone is expected to become their own personal brand, LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW feels like a rejection of the entire premise.

Perhaps that's why the album lands with such force.

At a time when so much alternative music is engineered for playlists, snippets and scrolling, Ecca Vandal has delivered something far more rewarding: a record that commands attention. Not because it's difficult, but because it is truly alive. Every track feels like it could burst apart at any moment. Every idea feels pursued to its natural conclusion rather than trimmed back for convenience.

More than anything, LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW feels like a reminder of how singular Ecca Vandal remains within Australian music. Plenty of artists borrow from punk, hip-hop or alternative rock. Few can inhabit all three worlds simultaneously without sounding like a compromise. Fifteen years into her career, she still sounds like nobody else.

Make no mistake, LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO UNFOLLOW isn't merely a good Australian record, it's an amazing global release, and sounds like every one of those years was spent building towards something bigger rather than going to waste.

The impact is bigger. The ambition is bigger. The reward is bigger.

More than a successful comeback, it's the sound of Ecca Vandal overdelivering on the promise of the limitless potential first revealed on 'White Flag' and those early songs all those years ago. One of Australia's most original artists has returned with her strongest statement yet and, in doing so, delivered one of the year's most thrilling records.