IDLES - "CRAWLER" (2021)

New Year, last years albums! After a hectic 2021, hopefully 2022 will have a little more time for the blog. I'm aiming for posting roughly once a week-ish, so we'll see whether I'll keep it up. Anyway, IDLES came around with their fourth record, CRAWLER, at the back end of last year, and has come across to the slightly more critical reception of their last album, Ultra Mono. I really liked it, being my first proper introduction to the band. However, a lot of fans / critics felt the band were becoming caricature of themselves - the hardcore punk sound played out and the sloganistic lyrics too on the nose and shallow. CRAWLER, on the other hand, takes the band further into their more cerebral post-punk tendencies, with a greater emphasis on subtler guitar and electronic textures and more personal, reflective lyrics.

The bulk of CRAWLER revolves around singer Joe Talbot's journey out of substance abuse, making the record a much more sombre and moody one than Ultra Mono. This is exemplified by the opener, MTT 420 RR, where slow fizzling synths lead into Talbot's detached vocals. "It was February, It was cold and I was high" he sings over and over. The song is about a car accident he had while under the influence, and features some truly violent, horrific imagery. Obviously exaggerated (as he is still alive), but Talbot sings about seeing his own spinal chord. It's the bleakest moment on the album and very much a tone setter.

However the tone is a bit all over the place, which is this records biggest problem. The following track, The Wheel, follows in this dark path lyrically, detailing Talbots struggles pre-IDLES with finding a job and looking after his chronically ill mother when everyone around him had turned their back - besides his drug dealer, keeping him in 'the wheel'. However, the song musically is very much standard IDLES, and really doesn't convey the weight and trauma of the situation effectively. This tonal whiplash is at it's worst at the back end of the record. Progress is a fairly uneventful, low-key, electronic mood piece which is then followed by the 30 second thrash-punk of Wizz and then the most run of the mill IDLES sounding song on the album, King Snake. I get the thematic journey of the sequence, being that progress is about recovering from addiction, Wizz is the short high during a relapse and King Snake details the comedown and feelings of failure and depression that follow. However, Wizz is gone in a flash and King Snake doesn't sound like the themes it is trying to convey - it sounds like usual IDLES.

Not to say that the album is a swing and miss, because it very much isn't. It feels like more of a half step than a full embrace of a new sonic path. There are songs that marry IDLES' older style with these new themes quite well. Stockholm Syndrome and Meds are more righteous in there approach, calling out people who judge addicts and Talbot calling out his past self for all the damage his addiction caused, which suits the bands blaring guitars and thunderous drums more than some of the more harrowing moments on the album. However the best songs on the album (alongside MTT 420 RR) are the two most left field (also the two singles surprisingly). Car Crash builds on the hints of electro-industrial and noise rock from Ultra Mono and chugs away and builds with so much momentum, until the inevitable release where Talbot realises he is a 'car crash'. The Beachland Ballroom, on the other hand, is the grounding weight and heart of the album. It is a punked up soul tune with so much passion and expression in Talbots voice. It's the moment of connection and humanity that keeps the album from being too sour and depressing. The record also closes well, with Talbot coming out the other end on The End, singing the mantra "In spite of it all, life is beautiful". It gives the record a full, satisfying arc and progression.

While the lyrics and themes on the record are really detailed, interesting and well constructed; the album as a whole feels more like a half step into a new sound - leaving it a bit caught in no mans land. It's unsure whether to be sombre and dejected, or angular and abrasive, or loud and righteous. It lacks the energy and fire of Ultra Mono, but doesn't go all in on anything to replace it. There are still some top notch tunes on the album, and it's greater depth is probably going to win back a lot of people that thought Ultra Mono was a little too lightweight.

Top Tracks: MTT 420 RR, Car Crash, Stockholm Syndrome, The Beachland Ballroom, Meds, The End

6/10