cootie catcher - Something We All Got
Artist: cootie catcher
Author: Sarah
Date: 03/02/2026
Listen: Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify
A term I've been starting to see more and more over the last few months is "laptop twee". From the handful of albums I've heard in the subgenre and a few articles, my understanding is that this generally refers to a blend of twee pop and indietronica (a mixture that I tend to love!), but from like a hyperpop-influenced standpoint that feels uncomfortably Too Online for me (someone who is Too Online in a different way). On last year's Shy at First, cootie catcher were already on the less-Online end of the laptop twee spectrum, but on Something We All Got, they take another step towards logging off.
If you're someone who knows what a "Nina Protocol" is, this album will probably have you yelling "Judas", but if your taste in indiepop runs to the more conventional side of things, you might find it a gentle introduction to the more out there side of the genre. Compared to Shy at First, the electronic elements here are pretty sidelined, with a handful of skipping vocal moments (such as in "Puzzle Pop") and a synth that ends up relegated to the background.
Though personally, I'm not entirely sure that this more conventional approach is one that will pay off for cootie catcher. It certainly doesn't lead to any highs as high as last year's "Friend of a Friend" (though I do really enjoy "Gingham Dress", which has been stuck in my head this past weekend); that could be an acceptable trade off if it significantly raised their floor, but it really doesn't. I didn't particularly care for the extensive sampling of a sewing tutorial in Shy at First's lead-off instrumental, but when it came to the actual songs, they already had a baseline of "pleasantly unmemorable", which is still the case here.
Something We All Got is clearly an album meant to break a band to a bigger audience, and I think it's likely that they will succeed in the attempt. They don't take any big risks, and they've got singles you'll be singing along to, and sometimes that's all you really need. But by the same token, I don't think it's likely that, when all is said and done, this is going to be a particular standout for the year. It's solid enough, and it should earn cootie catcher some new fans. But mostly, I think it's going to be a bridge between power pop and laptop twee: it gets you from one side to the other, but it's not somewhere you stay forever.