EP Review: Two For Two

Winning the Aotearoa Music Awards 2026 for Best Electronic Artist would have been no easy feat for Caru & Brandn Shiraz. Their EP Back 2 Back turned heads, wowed listeners and moved crowds, and before the DJ/producer and MC/lyricist duo from Tāmaki Makaurau had time to celebrate, they were onto the next chapter: A new EP of five new tracks.

Their output has been noted for Caru’s immersive and detailed production, matched with Brandn’s signature vocal delivery. Covering a multitude of genres and drawing on influences from breakbeat, jazz, and dubstep, but most importantly, classic UK garage.

With this much momentum behind the two, and with the recent, well-earned award, expectations of another success are undoubtedly high.

The calibre is set high right from the get-go with opening track Speaking My Mind. The influence of 2000’s garage is clear, with chattering drums and synthesisers present in the song’s undertow. Brandn Shiraz’s vocal delivery bears similarities to the attitude and swagger of Dizzee Rascal. Like a waterfall of words, his lyrics flow almost non-stop throughout the verses and choruses, to the point where I began to wonder how Brandn would pull off this tune live.

Second track Best Believe features Caru’s longtime-collaborator fadedpuppy from Imugi 이무기. The dreamy and sweet chorus provides an atmospheric break from Brandn Shiraz’s rapping, as the synth-instrumentation drifts in and out of the song, adding to the dreaminess.

The EP’s namesake songs are divided into Side A and Side B, with the former showcasing some freeform keyboard jazz. The relaxing and lounge-like soundscape is interrupted intermittently with Brandn’s sampled lyrics “Okay okay okay okay”, like Matthew McConaughey trying his hand at underground hip-hop.

Side B takes on a more serious tone, as the instrumentation projects a darker atmosphere. Basslines throb, violin strings dance quietly, and Brandn Shiraz turns things into something of a diss-track, lyrics stinging and critical, directed at unnamed naysayers.

Saving the most modern-sounding, and stylistically different piece for last, Weapon delivers seriously heavy beats. Futuristic-sounding synths twinkle, basslines boom, all providing a grimy, almost-sinister urban anthem to wrap up the EP. Without a doubt, this was my personal pick of the five songs.

Garage beats are renowned for irregular bass and drum patterns underpinning a regular 4/4 beat, and this EP is anything but short of creative effect and rhythms. Caru’s production techniques on Two For Two clearly showcase this.

The instrumentation of skittering tempos and bouncing keys certainly takes me back to the late 1990’s when I originally started listening to the radio. Even up until the early 2000’s, almost every major pop song carried a garage-house beat, thanks to the infectious energies of the original UK style of garage.

In many ways, Two For Two feels like both a homage to the heyday of the genre, but also a musical vessel for the duo to steer into the future.

If you enjoy garage beats, high energy rap lyrics, or even just unconventional electronic music, then Caru & Brandn Shiraz needs to be on your must-listen list.

Don’t miss both EPs Back 2 Back and Two For Two, available for streaming on all major platforms.