Returning three years after their successful fourth album CRAWLER, IDLES offer us their next project: TANGK – a supposedly an onomatopoeic word for how the band imagined their guitars sounded, a sound that since grew the new meaning of “living in love”. Instantly this is a concept a far cry away from a band who’s songs consisted of the vulgar lyrics such as “I pissed in the kitchen sink/ As she slowly undressed”. No, instead this album shows a reformed IDLES, a band whose merch once proudly stated “I’M SCUM,” now reads “LOVE IS THE FING.”
This reformed IDLES is given to us instantly with the albums opening track ‘IDEA 01’. The track gently sets the tone of the next 40 minutes, listing the actions of relatives: sister, father, uncle, and mother. The track builds and builds, and the tension is released in the next track: ‘Gift Horse’. A return to formula for the band, we are reintroduced to the IDLES of yore, with frontman Joe Talbot spitting out the chorus like a bitter taste, and ending the song with the harsh barks of “fuck the king, he ain’t the king/ she’s the king”. The issue with this track is that IDLES seem at odds with themselves. Despite repeatedly stating in the past that they aren’t a punk band, they have a undeniably large punk following, and so while lyrics like “fuck the king” may appease that demographic, it doesn’t fit into the other message of the song: “all is love and love is all”.
The peak of the 11 tracks lies slap bang in the centre with the lead single ‘Dancer’. The dance-punk track features a collaboration with LCD Soundsystem. While the track sounds brilliant, the collaboration seems wasted, Talbot shouts of “Dancers hip to hip, dancing cheek to cheek” acts to speak over the contribution of LCD Soundsystem, muting and subsequently undermining their choral chant “collide us as we work it out”, a chant that seems central to the song given Talbot’s comments on the song; he remarked on the bands focus on the primal nature of dancing, how it can be fun but also the passion involved can cause messy situations.
The album seems split into two parts, the first half is calmer, slower and more contemplative, while the second half picks up the pace, but loses the care and attention to song writing the first half has. This is perfectly exemplified with the eight track ‘Hall and Oates’, a song Talbot dedicates to the love friends experience (calling out “I love/ my man” in the chorus). While this seems nice, the lack of care is demonstrated given how the friendship between Hall and Oates was famously ill-fated.
Overall, IDLES have given us a strong offering, however it lacks in the shadow of their previous work. While it is hard for the band who kicked open the door with Brutalism and then followed it with Joy as an Act of Resistance to ever live up to their former glory, they sure give it a great try. I can see songs from this album, such as ‘Dancer’, ‘POP POP POP’ and ‘Gift Horse’, becoming true staples of their live shows and discography. Unfortunately, much of the album looks like it will fall to the wayside and be left as a deep cut for their most devoted fans to enjoy.
7/10
