hollie cook: shy girl in dub!
Francisco Espregueira
Drifting into deeper waters, Hollie Cook’s Shy Girl [Mr. Bongo, 2025] is reimagined through a classic yet freshly tactile lens. A key voice in modern lovers rock, Hollie has long balanced sweetness with subtle edge, tracing a lineage that nods to her roots while staying unmistakably current. Shy Girl marked her return to Mr. Bongo 15 years after her debut, and Shy Girl In Dub! feels like a full-circle moment. With producer Ben McKone, known for his work with General Roots, at the controls, the album strips things back and lets the low end breathe, turning familiar melodies into something more spacious and immersive.
Built on an analogue desk and shaped through live takes, Shy Girl In Dub! embraces the unpredictability that defines great dub records. Echoes stretch, delays ripple, and fragments of Hollie’s voice appear like ghosts in the mix. Tracks like “Shy Dub” and “Rockaway Dub” lean into that sound system heritage, where drums and bass take the lead and everything else floats around them. More than rewriting the originals this dub reinterpretation reveals their hidden layers. The result feels timeless but alive. Music that could echo through a vintage blues party or a modern system with equal ease. Available on Bandcamp, for the heads. Yes, yes.