Still shaken by the hyper-galvanising single Cleopatra, I jumped back on the Nova Twins train to Supernova; the next stop is Puzzles.

I leave the desert and enter a jungle where danger and excitement are just as real.

When the night comes, I join another group of travellers sitting around a fire in the deep of the forest. Soon, lullaby chants fill the air, and rumbling drums grow: the war dance can start.

“Open your mouth let it drip off / Can you tick tock / Can you tie knots / Can I get some?” 

Georgia South’s obsessive chainsaw basslines make circles around us; tigers pacing in the thick vegetation, waiting for their moment to unleash rhythmic outbursts of strummed power from Amy Love’s guitar. The spell is cast. Our bodies can’t help waving in the dark to the rhythm of the fire. We obey the law of the jungle.

“Big bad candy man give a dog a bone / Don’t want you for your money I make dollar on my own / Big bad candy man give a girl a bone / Don’t want you to love me, you just need to make me moan.”

We dance unconsciously, surrounded by flames. Are we on fire? It could be ghost lights. The rhythm is king. We leave reality behind and follow the echo of a snake charming guitar. One thing we learned since we recklessly asked Who Are The Girls? (2020) and entered Nova Twins’ vortex, is to trust our guides. They know what they want, which, in this uncharted land, is more important than knowing what they’re doing. 

“What you saying / I like them playboy freaks I'm complicated / Like solving puzzles in the sheets I'm dominating / Boy you better bring the heat I need a soldier / Someone who can take care of me.” 

The sun is up. We made it through the night. We wake up after Puzzles, and — just like with any previous encounter with the duo — we barely know what hit us. I go back on the train and eavesdrop conversations of my fellow travellers.

Some say Nova Twins were summoned by the same old texts used to call upon ancient gods like Korn and Rage Against the Machine. Others claim that Nova Twins’ coming was predicted by the prophets of Grime. The symbols on their faces and garments tell a story of blessings by the witches of the land of Punk, and I could swear that when I heard Amy Love snarling through the fire, I felt the same shiver raging through my skeleton as when I met with another tribe called Guano Apes.

It doesn’t matter.

What is the point of asking questions about the past when Nova Twins are taking us into the future?