CRAWLING FORWARD

 

It's not often i love a new album enough to play it on repeat - not since my late twenties any rate - but that's what happened when i put my Eco-vinyl copy of IDLES Crawler on the turntable. After the deliberate self parody of last year's Ultra Mono Joe Talbot and co. have taken a bold step forward: Crawler largely dispenses with the political sloganeering and post-punk moshpit anthems and reaches within for inspiration. Talbots' well documented 14 year struggle with alcohol and drug abuse, and his long road to recovery are the dominant themes here, in all their ugly details, but with a life affirming sense of redemption. The music is largely quieter and more measured too. Opener "MTT 420 RR" is a slow burning electronic textured track which represents the crash that saw him at his lowest point, the spare and eerie atmosphere over which Talbot recites the details in gruesome honesty.  "Car Crash" sounds exactly like just that: a minimalist dubby, grime influenced rant which returns us to the scene, sharp jagged guitars like broken glass and twisted metal. "The Wheel" and "Crawl!" return us to more familiar territory but with more desperation than before. There are still nods to the old sound - the thirty second "Wizz" and "King Snake" but preceding those two is the ambient wash of "Progress", but it's not easy listening, more a waking nightmare as Talbot realises he's trapped in a cycle of self destruction. "The New Sensation" provides a little humour, taking a shot at UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his assertion during the pandemic that people in the arts should retrain in IT to get by, rather than the government providing support , to a loose limbed groove that will go down well at festivals.

The standout song though is "The Beachland Ballroom", sounding like fifties pop drama - "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore springs immediately to mind - with Talbot baring his soul on a tale of recovery: "if you see me down on my knees/please do not think that i pray/DAMAGE! DAMAGE! DAMAGE!" as he crawls back from addiction. It's a powerful moment. Amidst all this dark redemption he finds a chink of light, at the close of the album, on the appropriately titled "The End": "in spite of it all, life is beautiful". Crawler isn't a total sonic reinvention, but a brave push forward. Quite possibly the best album i have heard this year.