Next Wave #1133: PUNCHBAG – clashmusic.com

If your current music cycle is feeling a little beige, PUNCHBAG are the perfect remedy to shake things up. The South London sibling duo are made up of Clara Bach and her brother Anders. Their fluorescent brand of energetic pop is infectious. Pair this with their pertinent lyrical focus on the line between digital absurdity and real-life issues becoming ever more obscure, they’ve coined their sound as ‘aggressive hopecore’, which makes for a thrilling concoction. “It’s about having that sweaty, noisy and aggressive cathartic release that isn’t doom and gloom,” Anders explains. Clara adds that having both fun and serious elements to their music is something that the pair balance naturally. “Laughing and crying are both equally important,” she says. “I think some emotions we feel are so fucked and indescribable that it is both a valid response to laugh at yourself and/or ball your eyes out, so I guess the music is quite laugh-ey/cry-ey – wow, I’m such a wordsmith!”
Originally working on their own contrasting post-rock and pop music projects, it wasn’t until Clara and Anders came together during lockdown that the first embers of PUNCHBAG caught light. Their duality in tastes and personalities was crucial throughout their writing process. “Sometimes if we couldn’t get a melody right, we’d go a few rounds in a ring until someone got KO’d,” Anders jokes. In full DIY spirit, they recorded their first tracks at home with Clara clambering into her wardrobe during vocal takes. Working with limitations was something that the pair fully embraced. “Sometimes when you have absolutely everything to work from, the options are so endless that you get completely lost,” says Anders. “We tried to just keep things simple… the way we work is quite intense, but the music is also personal, so having that freedom to work the way we wanted was an important part of the process.”
Their debut EP ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ captures their mantra under 15 minutes. It’s an aural sparring session, swinging from solid pop hooks to left-field uppercuts in extreme, yet completely harmonious style. ‘Pretty Youth’ is the band’s self-described “anti-coming-of-age anthem”, with incessant synths and guitars bursting from the seams, while ‘You Used To Be So Sexy’ reframes phone addiction through the lens of a toxic relationship. “We used to think that the future was going to be flying cars and now it’s scary AI and algorithms that keep you locked in for hours at a time, it all used to be so sexy,” Clara ponders. The EP title track epitomises PUNCHBAG’s boldness. Not only did it inspire what would become their band name, it also laid the foundation of their core ethos, where defiance overcomes doubt, and fun overcomes fear. “I think we really try to make everything we do as uncompromising as we can,” says Anders. “I also think it’s good to be uncomfortable in what you’re making, which helps push things even further.”
Ultimately, the EP’s key highlight ‘Fuck It’ sums up the duo best, as Clara explains: “PUNCHBAG is about joy and catharsis and real life, it’s not escapist music and we aren’t creating a mystical world around it. It’s about facing problems head on and I think having a song like ‘Fuck It’ sums that up. ‘We’re all gonna die’, yes, but also let’s make this time on the planet pretty good by doing the things you wanna do. Kiss the person you wanna kiss. Say that thing you wanna say!”
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‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ EP is out now on Mute. PUNCHBAG play their debut London headline show at Bermondsey Social Club on May 29th.
Words: Jamie Wilde
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