8/10

On their latest EP 'Bodega Caviar', NOTNORTH yanks you into the backseat of their fever dream and hits the gas. This five-track blitz of sweat, sex, and self-aware angst sounds like it was born on a fire escape somewhere between a blackout and a breakdown. There’s nothing polished or polite here, and that’s the point. If you’ve ever found yourself romanticising a night you barely survived, this EP is your anthem.

Opener 'I Wanna Be Your Friend' is all nervous smirks and overheated glances, the kind of song that starts with a lie and ends up shirtless. bandleader David Alan Thornton prowls throughout, laying down lines like emotional booby traps. The guitars snarl, the drums stomp, and suddenly you’re not in Kansas anymore.

From there, 'Bodega Caviar' slips into the sultry melancholy of 'Pretty Pretty', a track that lives somewhere between a half-smoked cigarette and a stare that lasts a beat too long. It’s brooding, cinematic, and dangerously intimate; it's music that sounds like it was written in the afterglow of something you shouldn’t have done.

By the time 'Looking' rolls in, NOTNORTH has fully hit their stride. This is the EP’s crown jewel: swaggering, sly, and weirdly poetic. It lurches through glam-dive fantasies and cracked-mirror confessions, equal parts sarcasm and seduction.

Then comes 'I Want You', the EP’s most unhinged and hypnotic entry. The repeated refrain grows more intense with every round, until it sounds less like a lyric and more like a spell. There’s no resolution, no release; just the slow-burn agony of wanting something you know might wreck you.

While 'So Hot Girl' closes things out with a smirk and a sneer. The heat’s still here, but now there’s distance, detachment, a sense that the thrill is fading, or maybe just evolving. It’s a fitting finale for an EP that lives in emotional extremes, delivering just enough bite to leave a mark.

There’s nothing shy about 'Bodega Caviar'. It’s sweaty, snarling, and beautifully unbalanced. NOTNORTH is written fully visualised scenes here, the kind you replay in your head at 3am. The kind you wish you’d filmed. The kind you sometimes regret but never forget. And in a landscape of tidy playlists and algorithmic safety, 'Bodega Caviar' feels gloriously feral. NOTNORTH is an act that dares you to feel more, want more, and maybe fall apart a little in the process. And honestly? That’s a risk worth taking.