Jessi and Flo start where other bands would have long since fallen silent: at the moment of near-surrender. From this threshold, they craft an album that does not give in to resignation, but takes a stand. Their self-defined ‘Soft Riot Pop’ is not a style, but a gesture of resistance – a tension between fragile melodies, nervous rhythms and a rawness that refuses to be smoothed over.
Since 2017, the duo have been working between Cologne and Düsseldorf with radical independence: 4-track cassette recorders, camcorder videos, tape releases, total control over sound and image. ‘The End’, their first full-length album feels like the logical outcome of this DIY approach. The fact that the international indie scene has taken notice is evident from the line-up at the Manchester Popfest, where kamikaze are set to perform alongside seminal figures of the British underground.
Thematically, the album revolves around a feeling that is constantly shifting: everything ends, but nothing is over. ‘Revenge Dress’ opens with a statement of self-determination; ‘X Me Out’ carves a path in the tradition of Riot Grrrl. ‘Dreamland’, ‘Hell’ and ‘Drown’ explore exhaustion, moral rebellion and the quiet surrender of one’s self to another person. The search for allies recurs time and again – particularly amongst FLINTA* individuals, whose artistic networks have shaped the album.
The conclusion with ‘Camp Funtime’ and the line ‘No more fun’ is not a final curtain call, but another small farewell. That is precisely what ‘The End’ is about: the quiet partings that shape a life – relationships, dreams, shame, light-heartedness. The artwork, featuring a weeping eye gazing forwards, captures this sentiment perfectly: grief and hope in the same field of vision.
If this debut proves anything, it is this: brokenness is not an end point, but a starting point for something of one’s own.