Daeui’s SHAM is the kind of EP you want to play on the drive home.
Some songwriters have the innate ability to tell you a story, like they are literally your mate telling you a story, off the cuff or over an extremely long text.
Mac DeMarco has always been good at sharing like that. So is Daeui.
Daeui’s SHAM makes me want to get in a car at 11pm with nowhere to be – with a mate in tow.
Because there’s something about this EP that feels instantly familiar without ever sounding like it’s copying anything. It’s hazy and nostalgic, a little strange, occasionally very funny, and And to be real, I can’t think of anything better to do than jump in the car, put SHAM on from start to finish, and see where it takes you.
Which, in a sense, I do. Sure, I’m at work, but it’s transportive, okay?
Opening track ‘sumn’ sets the tone pretty quickly. Daeui’s vocals sit slightly back in the mix, floating around the production, while the lyrics themselves are much harder to escape.
There’s a real tendency here to turn the knife on himself. “we can mess around until you really hate me” is a pretty brutal little line, but it also tells you a lot about what SHAM is interested in: romance, uncertainty and the slightly embarrassing things we do when we don’t know what we’re feeling.
It’s vulnerable, but never overly serious about itself.
Then ‘FIREPLANET’ comes along and completely changes the temperature.
TV samples give way to a heavy bassline, with Joner helping push the track into this weird electronic space that feels both futuristic and slightly nostalgic. Then ‘Bby gurl’ brings in another huge bass moment, this time with a little bit of ’90s boy-band DNA hiding underneath it.
It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it really does.
The synths are probably my favourite part of SHAM. They run through the whole EP, giving everything this warm glow that makes even the stranger moments feel connected.
But if there’s one track that really pulls everything together, it’s ‘DRIVE’.
Featuring woorini and Joner, ‘DRIVE’ captures that very specific feeling of being in a car with someone you like and having absolutely no idea what’s going on between you.
Are they into you? Are you imagining it? Should you say something? Should you absolutely not say something?
It’s romantic and awkward and a little bit ridiculous, which is probably why it feels so real.
The production helps. There are shimmering synths, warm drums and these slightly hazy vocals that make everything feel like it’s happening through a window at night.
And there’s a good reason the song feels so lived-in.
Daeui first wrote the chorus in the shower back in 2022, and ‘DRIVE’ took around four years to become the version we hear on SHAM. It’s one of those songs where you can feel that time has actually done something to it.
Joner contributes vocals and co-wrote the Korean verse, while woorini’s harmonies sit beautifully around the track. The three voices make it feel less like a song with features and more like a conversation, which is exactly what it needs.
The track also came together through Tuesday Service at Anjo Studio, where Daeui and other musicians meet to make music together. There’s something pretty lovely about that considering how much SHAM is concerned with connection — even when that connection is confusing as hell.
Elsewhere, ‘So long’ gives things another little shake-up before ‘HOTHEAT’ pulls the vocals closer to the front. There’s an indie-pop sensibility in there, but Daeui keeps dragging everything back into this synthetic, slightly surreal world.
And then we get to ‘can we pretend’.
It’s probably the quietest way to end the EP, and that’s exactly why it works.
There’s a recurring guitar figure, muffled production and this rainy-night feeling that makes it sound like the credits rolling on a movie you’re not quite ready to leave yet.
I can hear a little Mac DeMarco in the looseness of it, but the synths keep it firmly in Daeui’s world.
That restraint is important across SHAM. The vocals are lo-fi, but they never feel unfinished. Daeui has clearly made a conscious decision about how close and imperfect he wants everything to feel, and it works because the production never tries to smooth out all the interesting bits.
And that’s probably the best thing about SHAM.
Daeui wrote, produced and mixed the EP independently, with much of it made from his bedroom, but it doesn’t feel like a bedroom record in the small sense of the word.
It’s full of ideas.
There are TV samples, huge synths, ’90s pop references, Korean and English lyrics, weird little production choices and some genuinely beautiful moments of songwriting. Somehow, none of it feels like it’s fighting for attention.
Seven tracks is also exactly the right length.
SHAM gets in, gives you a whole lot to feel, and gets out before it has the chance to over-explain itself.
It’s nostalgic without being stuck in the past, romantic without being particularly sentimental, and vulnerable without taking itself too seriously.
Basically, it’s a really good mood.
And I think you should probably get in the car and listen to it.
Listen to SHAM below.
