- The UK singer, rapper, songwriter and producer shows off her DJing skills on a bright and upbeat fabric instalment.
- fabric kicks off the legendary mix series' 25th anniversary celebrations with multi-hyphenate artist turned DJ, Shygirl. The UK artist reflects our current era's underground-is-mainstream pop-club crossover with finesse, cool and personality. And the choice makes a lot of sense: there was a time when you'd get FABRICLIVE mixes from the likes of Buraka Som Sistema and Spank Rock alongside the usual techno and house CDs from Ricardo Villalobos and DJ Sneak, underlining the club's connection to crossover culture even two decades years ago. Shygirl's contribution, threading her own tracks in with cuts from COUCOU CHLOE, 96 Back and Florentino, underlines the cross-genre cachet that fabric can still carry—it's arguably the only mix series known by non-dance music fans or clubland lifers after all. This one, which also sees the series return to its iconic CD tins, presents underground club music as something bright, approachable and catchy, without losing its edge.
fabric presents Shygirl is also something of an extended showcase for Shygirl's recent Club Shy EP, a club-focused counterweight to 2022's magisterial pop album Nymph. She's happier now, and this new stage in her life has allowed her to zero in on the pleasure and decadence of clubbing. She wraps her typically explicit lyrics in new clothes, co-produced by Kingdom, Boys Noize, Cosha and SG Lewis. These songs appear throughout Shygirl presents fabric as oases to stop and luxuriate in.
The other tracks that Shygirl picked out are usually as sweet and catchy as any song she would make her own. Among them: Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair's inescapable 2023 hit "Set The Roof," and Eliza Rose and Martinez Brother's sticky-sweet, organ-led "Pleasure Peak." fabric presents Shygirl offers a vision of clubland where the point is not escapism but rather embracing the present, though this picture of it probably won't appeal to those who are used to dank basements and hypnotic loops.
The relentless positivity has its roots in Shygirl's childhood memories. In a recent interview with Mixmag, she spoke of her love for Eurodance: "That era of electronic music was fun and not pretentious in any way. I love those cliché moments, about longing for someone, in club music. They're cliché because they have so much life and truth in them." The best moments on fabric presents Shygirl trigger a similar flood of happy-go-lucky, school daze neurons: the moony-eyed romance of LAAVA's "Wherever You Are (I Feel Love)," TDJ's post-millennial trance, the sheer proggy joy of Broosnica's "Love On The Run." The latter stops the mix in its tracks only to gallop at double-speed after, sending the mix into an eclectic final stretch that features a cheeky kiss-off by George Riley and discombobulated club from Florentino.
The mixing style on fabric Presents Shygirl is far from flashy—in fact, I'd call it utilitarian. Songs move methodically from one song to the next. The pacing is far more important, and it flows like any good pop album: with breathers between extremes and tracks that put you through your paces when things get too comfortable. It's a breezy journey through the pop side of underground dance music that reveals that, with all the chart success, big-budget live shows and even arena tours that dominate this corner of the music industry, the good stuff is really, well, good. It's a smart move from fabric to highlight the new reality of dance music—big business, mainstream, flirting with pop—while underlining to keep it cool in the process. There are big pop songs, feelings and cliché moments here, and all the more life for it.
TracklistAngelita — Club Shy (Intro) feat. Shygirl
Danny Daze & Jonny From Space — Sweet Spot (Nick León Dub)
Shygirl — Making The Beast (Extended)
Jacques Greene — Believe
Rose Gray — Promise Me
Shygirl — 4Eva (Extended)
Eliza Rose & The Martinez Brothers — Pleasure Peak
Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair — Set The Roof
Laava — Wherever You Are (I Feel Love) [Dance Edit]
Club Winston — Summer
Kristine Blond & James Hype — Love Shy
Guchon — Piano Bros
Shygirl — thicc Ft. Cosha
Broosnica — Love on the Run
Skin On Skin — Magic
TDJ & Vitesse X — Into Dream
Elkka — DJ Friendly
Shygirl & Kingdom — f@k€
ANIMA — 7th
George Riley & Hudson Mohawke — S e x
96 Back — Laco (Metrist Reworm)
Florentino — Pressure (feat. Shygirl)
CONALL — Up (feat. COUCOU CHLOE)