By Rich Hobson
It just might be the biggest and most surprising rock success story of the century. A noise/post-punk flavoured band preaching love from the heart and singing about everything from rape culture and immigration to toxic masculinity and grief come out of Bristol and become a sensation in just about every country they land. In just three years IDLES have to become one of the hottest properties in rock, spawning a devoted fanbase and earning a level of cynical critical backlash that harkens back to the nasty days where NME would gleefully make – and then immediately – break a band just for existing. And yet, they don’t just endure – they thrive.
By this point IDLES know exactly who they are and aren’t afraid to tell the world and while it feels like now they are an indispensable part of our world breaching the mainstream with every step, the fact is they are still so very early into their musical journey. Perhaps that’s why ‘Ultra Mono’ still feels directly wired into the same spit-and-polish engine that first propelled them outwards on ‘Brutalism’ and to greater heights on ‘Joy As An Act of Resistance’. Admittedly, there is more polish than spit for Ultra Mono, but don’t let that trick you into thinking the band haven’t got a furious edge that’ll send you pinging off the walls. Opener ‘War’ isn’t the menacing build-up of ‘Colossus’ – it’s a straight-out brawler, the refrain of “THIS MEANS WAR/ANTI-WAR!” feeling like it could have been pulled directly from the lungs of an 80s hardcore punk bruiser like Discharge or The Exploited.
Contrast this then with the odd poppiness of ‘Grounds’. Not pop in the sense of beige middle-of-the-road radio-pop, more like the mainstream being weaponised; the beat (much like ‘Well Done’ before it) feeling like it wouldn’t be out the realms of a harder grime artist or even The Streets – albeit more visceral than on ‘None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive’. Its bouncy, anthemic and has a powerful, emboldening message – basically, everything people already love about IDLES. Because that’s the thing – IDLES’ core is to unify a fanbase and utilise the momentum to breach the highest seats in the land, proclaiming a sense of achievement and community whilst not pandering to the toxic elements that could otherwise damage the overall message.
That doesn’t put the band above reproach or criticism of course, but it does offer a sense of support that also plays into another core tenet of what IDLES have done thus far – the narrative of getting better. Less ignorant, more informed, more inclusive; ‘Kill Them With Kindness’, as they put it shortly before the record’s midpoint. Of course, life is more complicated than that and this generally only works if you can meet the ‘them’ halfway and ‘they’ aren’t trying to negate your whole existence, but that draws into an entirely different ‘thing’ that is hard to broach – academically, let alone musically. Its safe to say IDLES aren’t unaware of the irony of mainstream success in a world where Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are considered world leaders and the underlying suggestion that makes about what is considered ‘mainstream’ – as put in ‘Model Village’ “Just give them an anthem and they’ll sing it/Still they don’t know the meanings in it”.
Of course, it’s all well and good sifting through the lyrics to hold up political sentiments and slogans behind the music – what about the sound itself? Well, for the most part Ultra Mono stays the course for where IDLES have gone so far (why fix what ain’t broke, after all?). This does leave a larger question mark about what direction the band can go in future of course, but for the most part it just means another collection of unique-sounding anthems to eagerly lap up while we wait for touring to resume. But crucially, while IDLES aren’t pushing the boat out stylistically (mostly – we’ll get to that), they are still expanding on the overall emotional arc of each record. ‘Brutalism’ was a scrappy suckerpunch from the underground that leaned decidedly more into the band’s hardest elements, while ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ felt like exactly that – a jubilant howl in the face of unyielding hate and negativity. ‘Ultra Mono’ finds the band still straining their vocal chords, but this time restraining themselves enough to produce anthem after anthem, each song feeling like a hammer-blow to an unyielding world.
Perhaps the biggest departure for the record comes right near the end (but strangely, not the actual end) for ‘A Hymn’. A more sombre, soulful tune in the vein of Joy Division, it takes the band into their most melancholic territory since the painfully wistful ‘June’ and feels like the introspective reflection that comes after a loud party when everybody else has gone home. This kind of stylistic shift shows IDLES are still a band growing and adapting whilst bookending their first trilogy with yells of “We Made It!” – something few could argue with. If you still haven’t jumped on the IDLES train by this point, ‘Ultra Mono’ isn’t likely to galvanise you into seeing what you are missing. But for those who know, or those who are curious – this is an invitation to see just how far this train can go.
- ‘Ultra Mono’ is released on 25 September. You can get your copy HERE.
- IDLES will host a series of three livestreamed performances, each featuring a different setlist, from Abbey Road this coming Saturday (29 August) and Sunday (30 August). More information, and tickets, can be found HERE.
- IDLES tour next year:
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.