The second album by the Leeds-based band extends their distinctive, sonically idiosyncratic style of excellent angular art-rock with mind-bendingly alternative guitar riffs and scales, sharp lyrics and the oddly likeable nasal delivery of songwriter Dan Hyndman, who sounds like , for the uninitiated, what might have happened if Bob Dylan had been born in urban Yorkshire and had grown up in the postpunk era. The album is studded with ironic, killer lines (“Oligarchs leave empty husks /Leave our cities all used up … I got a primitive science/ That stopped my fingers from shaking/ Took it to the congregation/ It struck a chord with the riff raff/ Yeah, I was dusting for prints / With abstract impressionists/ No noisy clerics or buildings/ Or architectural crimes”), and a variety of narrating characters who various reflect the idea of a modern Armageddon. Sharpest in the box, ironically, is the single Blunt Instruments, but the title track, Seven Trumpts, Hazmat Suits and Bots! are other standouts, but after a few listens, the style will most certainly grow on anyone who cares to appreciate the sheer level of craft, caustic humour and invention on offer. Out on Memphis Industries. Mush’s music can also be enjoyed and bought on their Bandcamp page.
Feel free to also check out our favourite albums of 2020 here:
Fiona Apple to Lianne La Havas to Yves Tumor: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 1
Agnes Obel to Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers to Sault: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 2
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