The mischievous UK duo reconsiders its 2024 self-titled LP with an uneven slate of remixes and new tracks, mixing moments of impressive boldness into a string of otherwise unremarkable exercises.

The UK duo Two Shell, once known for deliberately zigzagging away from convention, have gradually eased into something closer to the mainstream. In the past, they became notorious for moves like publishing an interview only to erase it from the internet, or prerecording a DJ set and allegedly sending stand ins to perform it. These days, they are regulars on major festival stages and their music has softened into a more approachable form of dance pop. The sugar highs of their earlier tracks have slowed into midtempo rhythms and strange but inviting vocal loops. Last year’s album not album IICONS, stitched together from material lifted from live shows including selections aired from their Glastonbury stage of the same name, swapped shock value for comfort. It was odd, but no longer unpredictable. Their newest limited drop, described by the duo as a bonus album, circles back to their comparatively restrained 2024 self titled record and lands on one of the safest formats an electronic act can offer, a remix collection.

With a small batch of new songs sitting alongside a larger group of reworks, t?w?o? ?s?h?e?l?l? feels more like a mixed bag than a fully formed album. Still, some of what is inside hits hard. The price of entry on Bandcamp is justified by the updated take on “Everybody Worldwide”, which flips the original into an EDM leaning cut built around a sidechained piano riff that nods to Eric Prydz. First teased at the end of the original track’s video, this completed version is about as direct as Two Shell have ever sounded. That clarity works in their favor, sharpening their pop instincts rather than letting them fade into the glowing blur that dominated IICONS.

The other fresh material, all oddly tagged with the “?????” label, is far less consistent. For every playful flourish, such as the crunchy electronic guitar that suddenly erupts in “hello it’s me” after a voice yells “let’s go”, there is a track that feels undercooked, like “in my heart ?????”. That song drifts along as a thin piano piece where the duo’s warped vocal treatment feels more grating than clever, closer to a punchline that has lost its effect. The buoyant and bright “levitate”, subtitled “?????????”, stands out as one of the project’s best moments, but it is not even new, having first appeared back in 2023. It leads into “do u like me? ?????????”, a hazy and scattershot track that sounds like the result of feeding the phrase “Two Shell cute house tune” into an AI generator, an idea without a solid hook to anchor it.

Some of the guest remixers manage to lift the project. Planet Mu affiliate Ship Sket is a natural fit, and his bubbling, EDM tinged version of “hello it’s me” feels like the original pushed through a filter, with fragments spilling out from unexpected places. SWARMM brings extra punch to “hurt somebody”, giving it more weight than the source track. Facta and Tamaranamen both reshape Two Shell songs into gentle, Dntel adjacent electronica, one reinforcing the low end with a rough bass line, the other adding a trembling, music box like lead. These remixes, alive with contrast and melodic push and pull, capture the spirit of Two Shell at their best more convincingly than much of the duo’s own recent work. Elsewhere, even contributions from skilled names like box5ive feel flat, echoing the surface traits of PC Music without much personality.

In the context of a DJ set, where Two Shell rely heavily on their own material, their sleek alien textures and odd vocal tics feel exciting and unpredictable. Heard one track at a time on an album, though, many of these ideas blur together and start to feel unfinished. Only the revamped “Everybody Worldwide” reaches the heights of earlier standouts like “home” or “Mainframe”. Still, flashes of their old charm remain. It is hard not to grin when the synthetic voice on the opener “<initialize> ?????” calmly announces “Yes, I know Spanish” before bursting into rapid fire Spanish chatter. In moments like that, the human spark behind Two Shell shines through, reminding you that this music comes from people with humor and soul, not from an algorithm trying to recreate something that once felt truly new.