By Jim Rowland
After a lengthy but ultimately fruitful search for a new bass player, London proto next wave exponents Dealing With Damage are rejuvenated and set to return with their third album, ‘The London Particular’, via Sunderland-based Serial Bowl Records.
The album’s unusual title comes from the original phrase used to describe what came to be known as ‘pea souper fogs’ in polluted London as far back as 1820. It’s also a nod to the ‘fog of shit’ the band, who regularly delve into politically motivated lyrical themes, see going on around the world right now, as well as a further nod to the city they hail from and where the album was written and recorded.
‘The London Particular’ follows up 2023’s well-received ‘Use The Daylight’ album, and sees the band making a significant progression in their sound, taking inspiration from the likes of Sonic Youth, Alternative TV, early John Foxx, Wipers, early Cure, 60s Garage and even Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell’s jazz-inspired ‘Hissing Of Summer Lawns’ album. The result is a heady mixture of punk, post-punk, art rock, psych and a few other flavours in between.
The likes of ‘The Inconvenience of Democracy’, ‘Be Careful’ and ‘Now I Know My DWDS’ provide quality slices of bouncy post-punk/art rock, with the relatively complex ‘Pre-Dawn Grey Sky Blues’ moving rapidly through different vibes along those lines, in contrast to the straight forward noisy punk rock of ‘Hate Can Set You Free’.
Elsewhere, the organ is to the fore on the angular ‘Wrong Sometimes’ and the grooving ‘The Off Switch’, accentuating the psych/garage rock influence, whilst the relatively subtle ‘Alienation’, the acoustic ‘One Bump at a Time’, and the dub experimentation of ‘But Fear This Art’ add to the eclectic palette of the album, as do the arty interludes like ‘Deep States of Relaxation’ and ‘Hymn for a Burned Goddess’.
‘The London Particular’ is another thoughtful, inventive and passionate offering from a quality band.
- ‘The London Particular’ will be released on Friday (27 February).
- Dealing With Damage play a free album launch show at the Aces & Eights in Tufnell Park, also on Friday (27 February) and the Manchester Punk Festival on Sunday (1 March). They then support Instigators at Signature Brew, Haggerston, on Saturday 14 March.
- © Über Röck 2026.
