Norway has quietly produced some of the more interesting corners of alternative rock over the past decade, and The Real Jobs fit that tradition while sounding like nobody else operating within it. Becoming A Baddie, released via Tellé Records, is the kind of record that announces itself immediately and doesn’t particularly care whether you’re ready for it.
The self-described “evil boyband” tag is doing real work here — there’s genuine pop instinct buried inside these songs, hooks that surface and recede beneath layers of blown-out electronics, reverb-drenched guitars, and a general atmosphere of controlled chaos that keeps the whole thing perpetually interesting. The comparison points of IDLES, Squid and Fat Dog give a reasonable sense of the territory, but Becoming A Baddie has its own particular flavour — somewhere between melodic post-punk and something more psychedelic and destabilised, music that sounds simultaneously meticulously constructed and constantly on the verge of coming apart at the seams.
That tension is the point. The album is framed as a response to digital overload and the cruel internal voice that sabotages self-improvement, and the production mirrors that subject matter with impressive fidelity.
What distinguishes The Real Jobs within a crowded post-punk moment is the genuine weirdness they bring to familiar structures — the sense that the songs could go somewhere unexpected at any moment, and occasionally do. That unpredictability, combined with real melodic intelligence, is a difficult combination to manufacture.
Connect with The Real Jobs: Instagram | Spotify