100%WET Break the Surface of Hypergaze in Debut Album

Photo Credit: Crunchy Frog Recordings

Emerging fully formed yet undeniably forward-looking, 100%WET’s self-titled debut is a delirious, dazzling plunge into what the duo calls hypergaze; a self-defined subgenre that fuses shoegaze’s immersive drift with experimental pop structures and frenetic broken-beat percussion. It’s an album both raw, and polished, never losing sight of its emotional and rhythmic core.

Hailing from Copenhagen, Jakob Birch and Casper Munns are not dabbling here, they are asserting. Their debut is a manifesto in motion, a statement of purpose so rich in sonic and aesthetic confidence that it feels less like a first record, and more like the culmination of a long underground movement suddenly surfacing. Across nine shape-shifting tracks, 100%WET break genre boundaries – not out of novelty, but necessity. Every sound feels deliberate, calculated, and deeply felt.

The album opens in a haze but quickly surges forward. Over Me, one of its standout singles, is a perfect entry point: shimmering synths and layered, washed-out vocals collide with staggered, jittery drums that never settle into a groove, but instead push the track forward in pulses. It’s in this dynamic interplay, be it the tension between the ethereal and the visceral, that 100%WET truly shines.

At the heart of their sound is a percussive language that feels refreshingly off-kilter. The broken-beat rhythms, drawing from drum ‘n’ bass but never falling into its clichés, act as an anchor and an accelerant. They’re fragmented, like cracked porcelain, but meticulously arranged, creating a rhythmic complexity that challenges us, the listener, to move and think at the same time. Tracks like Leave It lean into this, pairing raw, emotional lyrics with meticulously chopped breakbeats and lush guitar loops that feel like they’re constantly stretching at the edges of space.

Despite the high BPMs and fractured textures, there’s a surprising tenderness that bleeds through. Vocals – sometimes ghostly and submerged, at other times plaintively upfront – narrate heartbreak, dissociation, and quiet resolve with equal weight. The lyrics are elliptical, often more suggestive than declarative, leaving emotional space for the listener to fill in. That ambiguity is where the magic lies.

Production-wise, the album is a paradox: rough, but polished. There’s a grit to its textures, be it buzzing synths, lo-fi guitar smears, clipped drum samples, but everything is balanced with an almost pop-like sensibility. Even at its most chaotic, there’s a sense of control, a clarity of vision.

There are echoes here. Echoes of Burial’s nocturnal unease, of My Bloody Valentine’s enveloping sonics, of Bar Italia’s intimacy. But 100%WET aren’t borrowing; they’re reinterpreting, recontextualizing. It’s no surprise that they’ve caught the ears of tastemakers like The Line of Best Fit and Electronic Sound. This album doesn’t just appeal to indie, electronic, or underground fans, it blurs the borders between those scenes entirely. In a time when many debut records feel cautious or overly referential, 100%WET is strikingly assured. It’s a record that dares to feel now and next at once, revelling in hybridity, without sacrificing emotional depth. More than just a new band with a clever genre tag, 100%WET are carving out a space entirely their own, a space that they know not everyone is going to like, but they’re going for it – and their debut is the portal.

Unless otherwise stated, Photography & Text Copyright 2025 © Georgie Lloyd-Kitchen/ADRENALINE Magazine.