HighSchool’s self-titled debut is shaped by an interest in contrast—between eras, scenes, and modes of connection—but nowhere is that tension more clearly articulated than on “Sony Ericsson.” Formed in Melbourne and now based in London, the duo of Rory Trobbiani and Luke Scott set out to expand their sound beyond the confines of post-punk and shoegaze, drawing instead on ’90s and 2000s indie rock and elements of New Wave. The result is a record that feels both referential and contemporary.

Recorded across multiple locations—including an East Sussex farm with producer Ben Hillier (Blur, Depeche Mode) and additional sessions in London with Finn Bellingham—the album moves between intimacy and scale. “Sony Ericsson” distills those qualities into a song concerned less with nostalgia than with the mechanics of modern communication.

Trobbiani frames the track around the rituals of texting: the pauses, the rereading, the tendency to project meaning onto a handful of words on a screen. The song examines the discrepancy between digital presence and real-life identity, and how the version of someone encountered through a phone can feel simultaneously compelling and unknowable. Rather than offering resolution, “Sony Ericsson” sits with that ambiguity, reflecting the unease that often accompanies constant connectivity.

While the album as a whole explores a range of moods and references, “Sony Ericsson” stands out for its restraint and clarity of theme. It captures a distinctly contemporary form of longing—shaped not by absence, but by perpetual access—and situates HighSchool as a band attentive to the emotional undercurrents of everyday technology.