Cold Court, a Philadelphia brother-sister duo, has released their debut EP \ (^_^) / — known as Hands Up — a deliberately glitchy genre mashup that draws surface-level comparisons to hyperpop acts like 100 Gecs while operating with markedly more self-seriousness. The project stacks influences without apology, which is either its defining quality or its commercial liability, depending on where you sit. What separates Cold Court from the irony-soaked corner of hyperpop is tone: they mean it.
Opening Track "Nina" Shows the Range
The EP's first statement, "Nina," opens in territory familiar to anyone who tracked the mid-aughts dance punk moment — Franz Ferdinand and Test Icicles are the named reference points — before shifting into something harder to categorize roughly a minute in. That structural move, leaning on genre recognition then pulling the rug, functions as a reasonable thesis for the project as a whole: use the familiar as a ramp, then leave it behind. The execution may depend on your appetite for the bait-and-switch, but the intent reads clearly. Cold Court is not interested in staying in the lane they opened with.
"Dumbest Girl Alive" Works a Different Register
Where "Nina" plays it relatively straight, "Dumbest Girl Alive" works the pop punk and emo veins with more of a wink — closer in spirit to the 100 Gecs playbook, lighter on the self-seriousness that defines the rest of the record. The contrast suggests Cold Court are less concerned with genre consistency than genre range. That reads either as a flexible palette or an identity problem; debut EPs rarely settle the question definitively. The fact that both registers land with some credibility is the more useful data point.
Where Cold Court Sits in a Crowded Genre
Hyperpop as a category has not been short of acts willing to lean into irony and absurdism. Cold Court's choice to anchor in the genre while separating themselves on tone — more earnest than ironic, more self-serious than self-aware — is a legible differentiation move. The Philadelphia duo appears to be betting that the sincere end of that spectrum has room. Hands Up is a debut, not a verdict, but the range on display suggests the bet is not obviously wrong.