HAAi – Shapeshift

London-based, Australian-born producer HAAi (aka Teneil Throssell) has reunited with rapper KAM-BU for “Shapeshift,” a track that explores the existential tug-of-war between freedom and confinement—both in society and within oneself.

The track unfolds with calculated restraint, opening with rich piano notes that set a contemplative stage for HAAi’s vocals, which stand front and center in the mix. This minimalist beginning gradually intensifies as soaring synths and deepened percussion enter the soundscape. Just when you think you’ve got the measure of the track, KAM-BU steps up to the microphone, his contribution intertwining with the established elements “with absolute ease”—or so we’re told.

According to HAAi herself, “Shapeshift” delves into “the duality of being both the person you are onstage and the person you are at home, in the normal world.” It’s that classic artist dilemma—who am I when I’m not performing?—repackaged for the electronic music crowd. KAM-BU elaborates that the track reflects “personal and societal struggles of feeling confined yet striving for freedom,” touching on “the tension between living a ‘dream’ and feeling trapped by the realities of the world.”

“Shapeshift” follows HAAi’s recent track “Can’t Stand To Lose” and its her first new material since 2023’s DJ-Kicks compilation, which featured a previous collaboration with KAM-BU and Jon Hopkins titled “Always Ascending.”

2023 also saw HAAi collaborating with Fred again.. and Romy on “Lights Out,” a track that supposedly “solidified HAAi’s place at the forefront of electronic music”—because apparently that wasn’t solidified enough already by her playing over 100 shows across 5 continents, 30 countries, and 91 cities in 2024 alone.