“Shaking it out” meant going floppy to rid yourself of nervous or pent-up energy. Think of a puppet dangling from slack strings.

WHATMORE’s COLORS performance of “put it on hearts” took me right back there. Beyond the uplifting violin and niche-reference lyricism, the group carry an irresistibly loose energy. The moment the beat kicks in, the five New York natives, thick as thieves, are spellbound, floating around the sparse set with glee.

Cisco Swank, Yoshi T., Jackson August, Sebastiano (Seb), and Elijah Judah have been homies since high school, and it shows. The five met at Manhattan’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, bonding over shared musical sensibilities. It wasn’t until after graduating, though, that those friendships coalesced into a collective. It’s easy to tell these guys have known each other for eons and revel in each other’s company. As different members step up to the mic, the group’s grins only widen.

The stories they tell are poetic, loaded with personal interests and daydream threads that paint distinctive, left-field pictures. Bars like “Talk with the past like I’m Aang in this bitch, Avatar state, I float in this bitch” — a nod to Avatar: The Last Airbender from Yoshi T — or “Rose gold on the side of my pants, Azure the color, I’m feelin’ like ’06 Buffon in the goal”, Seb’s shout-out to Italy’s most-capped goalkeeper and his hand in the Italians claiming the World Cup in 2006.  These are references I wouldn’t have been reminded of without WHATMORE pulling focus, split-second windows into how pop culture manifests itself in their minds.

Coursing through the project is a strong DIY spirit, a sense that everything is happening entirely on their own terms. In the official video, there’s a cutaway moment where Yoshi T and Jackson speak straight to the camera, breaking down their merch idea: scooping up cheap tees from Goodwill, spray-painting them with the initials W.M, and selling them to fans for a dollar. Just before the bass returns, they deadpan it perfectly: “We’re doing it our way, bro.”

Proud of their roots, WHATMORE pair their singles with visuals that rep New York in a big way. Whether it’s 2 am chicken shop takeovers in Brooklyn or a whizz through Downtown on a sightseeing bus, the crew are eager to show the city where they’re from, and what they’re made of. That approach only deepens the feeling that this is just a group of young men having fun in their hometown and making sounds in the process.

“put it on hearts” feels pure, just like those who made it. Stream the elated recording below, then run up their self-titled debut album.