Shoplifting – All The Things We Lost Last Year

I really love the bedroom pop sound. That lo-fi hiss, wow and flutter that evokes time spent hunched over a 4 track with the bare minimum of equipment. So, when I received an email that opened with “I just finished this album made fully on Nintendo DS and thought you would appreciate it.” You just know I had to explore it.

You get a strong sense with Shoplifting that they too have the same passion. Shoplifting is the project of one Jamie Penn. You’ve probably crossed paths with his work before if you’ve been paying attention to the DIY emo and shoegaze crossover bubbling up in recent years. What started as a necessity after band life fell apart has grown into something deeply personal, with Penn building songs piece by piece with whatever tools he could get his hands on.

That history sits right at the centre of All The Things We Lost Last Year, a record shaped as much by its creation process as the emotions that run through it. Losing the Nintendo DS that held so much of this material could have ended the project right there, yet what you hear now feels even more considered, almost like each track has been pulled back from the brink and given a second life.

Penn himself summed up that instinct to keep going when in a recent interview he said, “Anything is better than nothing… sometimes you can be overly critical of yourself.” That balancing act between holding on and letting go threads its way through the whole album.

Let’s hit play and see where we go.

‘Again’ opens things with the blueprint for the Shoplifting sound. Washed out drums, a Casio tone keyboard riff and subdued vocal delivery. This was my intro to the band and I was hooked immediately. Its sugar sweet melody is pure ear candy and has been a favourite of mine since that first listen. You may even have heard it on my April DKFM show. What a great start.

With ‘Spider’, the tone shifts into something moodier, tighter and more focused. The guitar lines lock into each other in a way that hints at Penn’s math rock roots, while the modulated vocal sits just above the mix. The novel scratches, squeaks and bleeps that punctuate the track give it a weird, nervous energy I gravitate towards.

‘2 Think’ keeps things concise, almost to the point where it feels like a sketch that has been left intentionally incomplete. That brevity works in its favour. The melodies arrive quickly, that modulated vocal is almost a texture, over the wonky guitar and child’s piano sound. Its really lovely, almost like a lullaby.

The first interlude, ‘Illness (lost interlude I)’, acts as a quiet pause. It leans into the lo-fi aesthetic more heavily, with textures that feel almost like an old ZX Spectrum loading screen.

‘New Room’ brings things back into focus with a warmer tone. There is a sense of rebuilding here, both musically and emotionally. The guitars feel more open, more real. The vocals again are saturated and pitched way up. Against that organic acoustic guitar, they sound almost alien. The closing minute sounds wonderfully epic in a miniature way.

We’re playing on that DS next with ‘Tekken 4’. On this one the guitars take on as much of percussive part as the drums, which are almost at drum ‘n’ bass speed at one point. It’s an atmospheric track that is over before its even begun.

‘Social (lost interlude II)’ follows as another brief moment of reflection. It carries a slightly darker tone than the first interlude, with a sense of distance that contrasts with the warmth of the surrounding tracks. The loops slowly build over its short run until it just fizzles out.

‘Foxes’ comes in quick and sharp. The pacing here gives it a jittery energy, with the guitar and bass almost tripping over themselves as they push through the track. Underneath it all is a warmth that’s undeniable.

Leaning fully into the DIY spirit next is ‘Homebrew’. Just acoustic guitar and that modulated vocal for the most part, it’s the sparsest song on here. The gentlest of synth sounds augment the latter part of the song bringing it home with a lightness of touch.

On ‘Giving Up’, the emotional weight becomes more direct. The guitars carry a heavier tone, and the vocal delivery feels more exposed. There is a sense of release here, as if the track allows Penn to confront some demons that have been sitting beneath the surface throughout the record.

‘Free Beers (w/ James)’ really makes us feel like we’ve stepped wholesale into that Nintendo world. The sounds used here could almost have been pulled directly from some forgotten corner of Mario world. Coupled with his unusual acoustic guitar part it makes for a pretty compelling track.

‘Telly Hill’ feels reflective, almost like a look back at everything that has come before. The alien vocal is back over that earnestly strummed guitar. Drums flicker about like the static on a TV screen. As always though there’s a lovely wee synth melody to lift everything.

The album closes out with ‘So Easy’. The rhythm takes on a clockwork rhythm that carries the melody from the synth and guitar perfectly. When the track really opens up in that final minute it’s a real shot of elation and always sends me back to hit the play button to enjoy it all again.

Spending time with All The Things We Lost Last Year really feels like stepping into a personal archive, each track carrying its own story of creation and survival. The limitations of the tools become part of the identity rather than a restriction, and the result is a record that feels honest in every detail. You can hear the late nights, the restarts, the moments of doubt, and the decision to keep going anyway. That sense of persistence gives the album substance, and by the time it ends, you are left holding onto those small fragments just as tightly as the artist who made them.

All The Things We Lost Last Year is out on April 29^th. You can check it out once it’s released over on the Shoplifting Bandcamp page.

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