8/10

There is a particular kind of electricity that emerges when a young guitar band begins to realise just how far its songs might carry. And on their two-track EP ‘Desperate / Shoot Me Down’, Icelandic quartet Hylur sound poised at precisely that point: still fuelled by the closeness and instinct of four lifelong friends, but increasingly capable of producing music built for rooms far larger than those in which it began.

Formed in the small coastal town of Stykkishólmur, Hylur have spent the years since 2020 developing a sound that brings the emotional immediacy of melodic rock into contact with the scale and urgency of early-00s indie. Their latest release sharpens that identity considerably, offering two songs driven by tension, vulnerability and the irresistible promise of release.

Opener ‘Desperate’ carries a title already charged with instability. It evokes the moment composure begins to fracture and private anxiety becomes impossible to disguise. Their melodies rise, guitars gather force and the song appears to push outward, transforming emotional pressure into something expansive enough for an audience to share.

While ‘Shoot Me Down’ brings a more defiant edge to the release. Its title suggests challenge, rejection and the anticipation of impact, capturing the uneasy confidence of someone who knows they may be hurt but refuses to retreat quietly. Where ‘Desperate’ seems to expose the wound, ‘Shoot Me Down’ faces whatever caused it with greater confrontation.

The two songs therefore complement one another without appearing interchangeable. One reaches outward from a place of emotional urgency; while the other braces for collision. Both reveal a group becoming increasingly confident in the dramatic possibilities of direct, guitar-led songwriting.

With a UK and European tour planned for later in 2026, the timing feels ideal. These songs capture a band building towards something broader, moving from an isolated Icelandic town into an increasingly international future without losing the emotional directness that brought them together.

From start to finish, ‘Desperate / Shoot Me Down’ is an emphatic step forward: melodic, restless and full of the kind of tension that only becomes more powerful when played at volume.