8/10

On their new EP 'AFTERwork', the Malmö-based duo transform exhaustion, surveillance culture and the slow emotional erosion of modern adulthood into something strangely euphoric. Across seven tracks, they blur the lines between club music, punk urgency, experimental pop and underground hip-hop, creating a sound that feels as unstable and overstimulated as the world they’re documenting.

Built from two years of conversations, late nights and lived pressure, 'AFTERwork' captures the disorientation of a generation caught between hyper-productivity and emotional burnout. Yet despite the weight of its themes, the EP never feels defeated. Instead, MAMI UMAMI channel that tension into movement. The rhythms hit with a physical intensity, drum & bass breakouts collide with distorted electronics and jagged percussion gives way to moments of unexpected vulnerability and reflection.

What makes the project stand out is how fluidly it moves between emotional states and genres without ever losing coherence. Tracks unravel and rebuild themselves in real time, mirroring the unpredictability that has become central to the duo’s growing reputation within Sweden’s underground scene. There’s a constant push and pull between control and collapse, between wanting to disconnect and needing to belong.

Focus track ‘Conor’ emerges as one of the EP’s defining moments. Chaotic, witty and emotionally sharp, it balances absurd internet-age imagery with a deeper meditation on identity, community and responsibility. Switching seamlessly between Swedish and English, the track captures the fragmented language of online life while grounding itself in something genuinely human. Beneath its high-energy exterior lies a longing for connection, particularly within the communal release of the dancefloor.

Another noteworthy track is ‘belly dancer’, which shifts between confrontation and release with striking confidence. There’s a raw immediacy to it that mirrors the duo’s live performances, where performance art, club catharsis and controlled collapse all seem to exist at once.

'AFTERwork' refuses to sit comfortably in any one space. It’s confrontational yet playful, politically aware yet deeply personal, experimental yet accessible. MAMI UMAMI have created an EP that feels alive in all its contradictions. This is music for crowded clubs, sleepless nights and overstimulated minds trying to find meaning in the noise.