Ecca Vandal
Looking For People To Unfollow
Michael Venn, contributor
Seriously, I cannot stop listening to this album. From the first time I heard her 2024 single “Bleed But Never Die,” I’ve been anxiously awaiting the follow-up to her 2017 self-titled debut. There’s something entirely refreshing about an artist who completely ignores expectations and simply makes the record they want to hear themselves. That’s exactly what Ecca Vandal does on Looking For People To Unfollow, an album that feels chaotic and nostalgic all in the same breath.
It reminds me of a time in the late ’90s and early 2000s when musical styles weren’t so strictly defined, when artists could jump from punk to hip-hop to electronic to alternative rock without losing their audience. Personally, I love when artists are eclectic and unafraid to push boundaries. Every time I listen to this album, I hear something new that pulls me in even deeper.
Ecca Vandal absolutely exists in her own lane, but on this album, it feels like she’s fully realized her artistic identity and vision. Let me explain. There are moments that sound like Rage Against the Machine colliding with Mac Miller, followed immediately by hooks you’d expect from No Doubt, The Prodigy, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And just when you think you know where she’s heading stylistically, Ecca suddenly pivots into trip-hop, industrial beats, punk breakdowns, jazz phrasing, and hip-hop flows without it ever sounding forced or unnatural. It’s eclectic, sure, but in the best possible way.
I suppose you could say the album’s DNA is grounded in the DIY spirit of punk rock, but not in the traditional “three chords and the truth” sense. This is modern punk through the lens of someone raised on hip-hop, soul, electronic music, hardcore, and alternative rock. Tracks like “Cruising to Self Soothe” and “Eyes Shut” explode with energy, while songs like “Levitate Part 1 + 2” and “Then There’s One” lean into electronic textures and cinematic atmospheres.
What makes Ecca compelling to me is that none of it feels disingenuous. It all feels real and true to the many facets of who she is and who she’s becoming as an artist. There’s authenticity in the chaos. You believe every scream, every sarcastic line, and every vulnerable lyric.
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There’s also something powerful about hearing this level of confidence from a strong independent female artist who refuses to be boxed into one sound, one image, or one expectation. Ecca Vandal thrives in unpredictability. She’s making art entirely on her own terms, and I’m pretty sure that’s exactly why this record works. She’s writing songs she genuinely wants to hear, and that’s something that often gets lost when artists try balancing their creative vision with their record label’s expectations.
Born in South Africa before later relocating to Australia, Ecca’s music naturally carries a global identity that makes the album feel worldly, multilayered, and nearly impossible to categorize.
What I love most about Looking For People To Unfollow is that it fully embraces its own unpredictability. It’s the kind of record that would’ve thrived in the era when people discovered music through exchanged burned CDs, late-night MTV2 discoveries, indie movie soundtracks, and college radio stations.
Ecca Vandal didn’t make an album designed to fit neatly into today’s pop landscape. She made something that feels more connected to the ’90s, when the world first heard Nirvana before anyone called it grunge, when it just sounded like The Pixies turned up louder with more distortion. When Rage Against the Machine blended punk, metal, hip-hop, and political commentary before genre bending became a marketing strategy.
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And honestly, for me, that’s what makes Looking For People To Unfollow one of the most exciting alternative releases I’ve heard in a long time. I think I found my new summer soundtrack.