This, the fourth in a sequence of releases heralding their third studio album ULTRA MONO this little beauty pulls handily on the choke chain and injects some much-needed punk spirit into our communally-deflated summer. Mine’s a triple Jagermeister with bitter lemon.

“They ain’t too friendly in the village / There’s a lot of pink skin / Take flight / I don’t care about your rose garden / Homophobes spend their time in the village / I don't see a lot happen in the village.”

That’s a random selection of Joe’s splenetic lyrical conceits and I am having to smirk out the side of my mouth at his innate ability to voice the frustrations of the 52%, the non-curtain twitchers, the tattoo spreaders, the four-cans-of-a-night celebrants, those who love, care, hug, want to be open to new experience and not just list everything they own [see ‘Heel / Heal’ for ready referencers].

More than anything, this single is a joyful release, a riff-tastic excursion into a vastness of Devo-like influences, tight drum fills, competing guitar squalls, an injection of economy amongst so many bloated indie corpses.

ULTRA MONO can’t come too soon – for all that is good in this land, jump on board if you haven’t already. If nothing else, you’ll leave out the back door with a shit-eating grin, ripped T-shirt and a heart full of green grass and absolutely no regrets about what you might have already missed. This band, this fucking band, they could be your life. So let them be.

Hugh Ogilvie

There are limited tickets left to see IDLES in May 2021, click HERE for more info