“This Ain't Real” - HalfCutLemon
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
HalfCutLemon are not here to play it safe. If their debut was the sound of a Copenhagen band finding their teeth, This Ain’t Real is them baring fangs, spitting blood, and then—just when you think you’ve got them figured out—slipping into something unexpectedly cinematic, tender, or even downright beautiful. It’s a second album that refuses to sit still, one that shoves punk, post-punk, and baroque pop into a blender and dares you to keep up.
The record was cut at Sweet Silence Studio with none other than Flemming Rasmussen (yes, the Metallica guy), and you can hear that weight in the bones of these nine tracks. The guitars sound chainsaw-sharp when they need to, the drums boom with arena-filling force, but there’s also nuance here—swooping strings, strange textures, guest appearances that don’t just cameo but elevate. With post-punk legend Peter Peter lending grit and Persille Ingerslev adding haunting, crystalline vocals, HalfCutLemon sound like they’re stepping out of the shadows and into something much bigger.
The opening shot comes with “Ointment”, a vicious punk haymaker that tears out of the gate with all elbows and no apologies. But just when you think the album might be all raw throat and splintered knuckles, “The Sun Is Dying” turns everything on its head: a slow-burning elegy that builds like smoke rising from a collapsing building, all menace and melancholy, urgent yet strangely hypnotic. Together, those two singles already showed the band’s new range, but on the album they’re woven into a larger narrative that feels like a map of modern chaos—political, personal, and existential.
Lyrically, this is HalfCutLemon’s sharpest work yet. There’s anger (“Fist” is as blunt as its title), mourning (“Summer’s Gone” aches with fleeting memory), but also sparks of optimism. “Up!” in particular feels almost radical in its celebration of science and human renewal, a rallying cry for progress delivered with punk bite and wide-eyed wonder. It’s that balance—rage and hope, brutality and beauty—that makes This Ain’t Real such a compelling ride.
Photo Credit: Tom Jerso
What’s most striking is the ambition. Where the first album kept things largely in the punk lane, here the band let themselves stretch out. Tempos lurch from blitzkrieg to dirge, and moments of near-silence are allowed to breathe before the next explosion hits. Rasmussen’s production keeps it all tight, but never sterile—there’s still grime under the nails, still sweat dripping off every note.
By the time the record closes, you’re left with a sense that HalfCutLemon have leveled up, but without losing the scrappy energy that made them stand out in the first place. They’ve simply added more colors to their palette—ferocity sharpened into art.
This Ain’t Real is the sound of a band stepping confidently into the unknown, holding onto their punk roots while building something grander. HalfCutLemon might not care about being anyone’s “next big thing”—but after this, it’ll be hard to deny they’re already there.
“This Ain't Real” is available now on all major streaming platforms
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