Five years after their lo-fi debut quietly turned heads, Shelly — the indie supergroup formed by Clairo, Claud, Josh Mehling, and Noa Frances Getzug — is back, and they’ve brought two dusty gems along for the ride. “Cross Your Mind” and “Hartwell” aren’t just songs; they’re time capsules from another era — back when Zoom jams and DIY production across state lines defined creativity in lockdown.
The tracks, both written in 2020 and produced with a kind of charming imperfection, have finally been released after a long hibernation. For longtime fans of “Steeeam” and “Natural,” these new cuts feel like long-lost postcards — bent at the corners, sun-faded, but all the more intimate for it. “Cross Your Mind” carries that wistful, floating vocal tone Clairo has all but trademarked, paired with the hushed harmonies and bedroom textures that make Shelly feel like a whispered secret between friends.
“Hartwell,” meanwhile, leans even further into lo-fi warmth, with soft-spoken guitar work and a kind of emotional inertia that pulls you into its orbit slowly. It doesn’t beg for your attention — it earns it by simply existing. In a music industry bloated by overproduction and urgency, Shelly remains content to sit with a moment, and let it stretch.
What’s remarkable is how well these songs hold up. While Clairo has since evolved into a major indie figure in her own right — and Claud has built a unique identity under Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory imprint — the chemistry between all four Shelly members still feels pure, unfiltered. This isn’t a comeback as much as it is a quiet continuation. There’s no press blitz, no oversized roll-out — just a soft drop of songs kept safe for half a decade and shared now, with a gentle nudge.
If you’re the kind of listener who romanticizes the raw edges, who prefers a little room noise with your harmonies, “Cross Your Mind” and “Hartwell” are worth the wait. Not because they’re perfect, but because they never tried to be.