After forming in late 2018 and dropping their first single ‘Delete’ last year, Hydra Fashion Week are back with the next taste of their self-described “jazzy-cyber-punk”, ‘First Person Shooter’.

Initially, ‘First Person Shooter’ charges out of the gate with a post-punk momentum, led by a tangle of guitars that hook us into the groove while the catchy vocals capture the lens of a first person gamer with a sense of expectancy, almost predictability. However, just as we’re settling into the propulsion of the track, we’re reminded that Hydra Fashion Week aren’t the act to be satisfied with that, as they slam on the breaks and send us spiralling into a free-form chorus.

This chorus unsettles the pulse, creating enough pause and tension to leave us unsure of how we can return to where we were. The vocals are almost angelic but capture a weariness, a sugar comedown from too many cans of coke, or perhaps the unknowing of new territory. It enacts the liminal space between reality and fantasy, leaving us to question if what we are experiencing is truly real or simulated, and following a shouted outro with a nifty jazz break, 'First Person Shooter' is suddenly done.

Speaking about the song, Charlie Teitelbaum, the mastermind behind Hydra Fashion Week shares “I'm interested in what happens to the shooter. How does it feel to be purged of physical space? How does it feel to be empowered by digital violence? Where does the simulated space end & colonised territory begin?”