IDLES – Tangk – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Over the last number of years, Idles have gathered a lot of attention with some of the smarter rock songs of recent years.  After releasing two albums in quick succession, they have taken more time over this one, arriving more than two years on from their most recent album Crawler.  It starts slowly with the understated, almost brooding IDEA 01 before going into standard Idles fare with Gift Horse, shouty, stomping rock.  The band is far more effective when they slightly dial down the intensity.  POP POP POP is a slice of insistent electronica-infused, diffident pop.  Roy starts out in a similar vein before singer Joe Talbot unleashes his inner Ian Astbury on a chorus of “baby baby baaayyyybbee”. Grace has the infectious chorus of “no god, no king, I said love is the fing”.

The very stripped-back ballads A Gospel and Monolith are a welcome breather.  The former is a fine piece of music with the band at their gentlest, the latter ending the album with a bit of wind(!).  The rest of the album is full of shouty-stomping rockers such as the aforementioned Gift Horse, Dancer, and Hall and Oates. These veer close to ‘cartoon rock’ and it can be hard to tell them apart. There are buckets of passion and energy on show but what felt life-affirming on 2018’s Joy As An Act of Resistance has become exhausting.  It’s an album that will probably please their fans, though it would be good to see them push their sound in new directions next time out.

Gift Horse