2016 summer aesthetics may be all the rage right now, but I’m still stuck in the 2018 “art hoe” era, where Vans were colourful, mom jeans were cuffed, and Hydroflasks were painted like Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

I’m talking, of course, about the era when lo-fi indie artists like Cavetown (real name: Robin Skinner) reigned supreme. Viral albums like Lemon Boy (2018) and Animal Kingdom (2019) grew Cavetown’s YouTube subscriptions into the millions, cementing him as a god of indie pop into the early 2020s. While I was excited to reconnect with my high school, ukulele-toting self when Cavetown released their sixth album, Running With Scissors, on Jan. 16, I ultimately found myself disappointed. Despite some lyrical growth and experimentation, Cavetown remains a product of his time—a sweet trip down memory lane, but nothing new as we approach 2030.

There are some bright spots, lyrically. The title track, “Running With Scissors,” speaks to some of the Gen Z frustrations which propel the superior songwriting of young bands like Geese.  “Everybody’s a copy, everybody’s in drag,” Skinner sings over buzzing keyboards, conjuring a laugh and nod of approval. On “No Bark No Bite” Skinner ruminates about parenthood, a looming threat for all twenty-somethings right now. “I can’t imagine, saying what he said / Doing what he did, being how he is,” the song contemplates, addressing the common fear of turning into your parents, for better or for worse.

My main gripe with Running With Scissors follows one complaint: Cavetown’s making music about things which have, aesthetically, fallen out of cultural favour since the late 2010s. It’s no secret microtrends dominate the cultural sphere, moving at an unsustainable pace and cheapening all forms of art. But this poses a challenge to clever artists: create something which stands on its own and outlasts the trend cycle. Cavetown doesn’t rise to this challenge.

“Uncanny valley girl dream / The main character acting like an NPC,” Skinner sings on “NPC,” referencing a bit of cultural slang nearly four years old. The hyper-pop experimentation on “Cryptid” is refreshing, even if it feels like we shouldn’t still be singing about cryptids in 2026.

 Even the hyper-pop sound itself feels dated, if new for Cavetown. Upbeat jams like “Sailboat” and “Rainbow Gal” harken back to the good old days of 2020-2021, when 100gecs ruled the internet. After Charli XCX rebooted the electronic pop genre with brat(2024), artists in this space were challenged to reinvent themselves, too. Some, like the ever-creative PinkPantheress, have succeeded. Others, like Cavetown, have not.

This isn’t to say Running With Scissors isn’t enjoyable overall, or that you shouldn’t reconnect with old favourite artists. Just don’t expect Cavetown to play the hits on this album; even on low-key songs like “Micah,” Skinner leans tentatively toward electronic pop. He sounds nervous to commit.

The one upside: Cavetown’s new album drove me to revisit Lemon Boy in its entirety. If your fractured, Instagram Reels-corrupted attention span of 2026 only has space for one album: let it be this one. Though Running With Scissors isn’t perfect indie music, it’s nice to know Cavetown did come close, once upon a time.

Tags

Album, Album review, Cavetown, hyperpop, indie music, indie rock, Music, Running With Scissors

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