Like an echo tunnel churning towards the charred edge of the future, the end of the world could be coming. We’re all “waiting for the ice to melt,” submitting to the chaos. What’s the use? In a garden of lush experimental rock, Shady Bug invites us to imagine the end of the world as the end of our old selves: a swarm of snakes exiting a red-tinted bar in the Midwest. Shady Bug has shed its lizard skin. 

Shady Bug has stepped into their most confident era of artful noise and melodic vocal honesty, asserting their trademark harmony of harsh and sweet in 2023 with What’s the Use? on Exploding in Sound Records (NYC).

Original members and guitarists Hannah Rainey and Ripple have been cultivating this juxtaposition together since 2017 in St. Louis, MO. Now, coming into her own as a musical leader, the complex compositions on What’s the Use? contain more of Rainey’s voice than any other Shady Bug album. Shady Bug’s current lineup has included bassist Chris Chartrand since 2018, and this is his first time recording with the band. St. Louis drummer Jack Mideke (Smidley, Jr. Clooney) recorded drums on What’s the Use? The four musicians recorded the EP with engineer Alex Molini (Pile, Stove) at the "Pile HQ" in Nashville in 2022.

With each arrangement grounded by Rainey’s tough yet crystalline vocals, What’s the Use? guides listeners through the clash of exterior and interior worlds — anxiety about climate change, the end of a relationship, and the beginning of self-motivated clarity.