Quite often, as a music journalist, you’ll describe someone’s music as “energetic”, but the description rarely fits a song better than WHO SHOT SCOTT’s latest offering.
Bursting forth with the same frenzied impact of his contemporary Genesis Owusu, the Auckland-based producer and rapper is unrelenting for three minutes on “I HEAR THEM LAUGHING”, exploding out of the traps and refusing to slow down at all.
Continuing to showcase his impressive ability to mix razor-sharp punk rock with acidic alt-rap, WHO SHOT SCOTT recounts a wild tale of sleep paralysis in the song.
“One night, I had a nightmare that I was being chased by an anonymous shadowy figure through my house,” he explains. “I’m not sure what he wanted, but as he was sprinting after me, he kept laughing. I slowly began to realise that the laughter I was hearing was that of my flatmates downstairs in the living room. They were awake at 3am chatting, and had no idea I was upstairs just on the brink of losing mind.”
Perhaps, after listening to the explosive “I HEAR THEM LAUGHING”, WHO SHOT SCOTT’s flatmates will keep the noise down in future. Alternatively, shudder at the thought: the rapper has to contend with hearing his own sleep paralysis-haunted song played downstairs while he’s battling another sleepless night. The danger of producing such an electrifying anthem.
You can watch the accompanying music video above, a visually stunning clip directed by WHO SHOT SCOTT’s frequent collaborator Connor Pritchard.
“I HEAR THEM LAUGHING” is WHO SHOT SCOTT’s swift follow-up to his recent EP, MERCY III, which he discussed with Rolling Stone AU/NZ earlier this year.
“I’ve realised the only thing that will make me fit into the world is being absolutely honest and authentic to my core, that just comes with a bit of maturity I suppose,” he said in the interview.
WHO SHOT SCOTT’s “I HEAR THEM LAUGHING” is out now.
