- When IDLES’ frontman Joe Talbot was sixteen, his mother suffered a stroke that paralysed her and Joe became her carer, up until she passed away, which was around the time their first record was released. Then, last year, Joe and his partner lost their newborn daughter, delivered stillborn. Knowing this is critical to understanding the nature and title of their new record Joy As An Act Of Resistance, which follows their 2017 debut, the aptly-titled Brutalism.
On the new record Joe openly expresses the grief that comes with loss, yet the album is armed with an infectious positivity. That's especially notworthy, because in spite of this, IDLES don’t abandon the powerful political sentiments that made their first record so forceful. Joy As Act Of Resistance continues to belligerently tackles themes of xenophobia, nationalism, toxic masculinity and so on. In this turbulent maelstrom of optomism and harrowing reality is a celebration of the differences what make us who we are.
Colossus is a commanding two-part track to start the album and one of the more aggressive cuts. The slow-burning first half builds energy as it increasingly viciously dismantles the question of what makes a real man. The other half is an explosion of all that built-up energy as Talbot compares himself to iconic masculine figures, while rejecting notions of masculinity and homophobia, singing: “I'm like Stone Cold Steve Austin / I put homophobes in coffins”. The theme of masculinity is revisited on tracks like Samaritans and the laugh-out-loud-funny Never Fight A Man With A Perm, wherein Talbot also unapologetically takes aim at tories.
IDLES have never shied away from pop sensibilities, but in the past this tended to be buried under the ferocity of Talbot’s vocals and the abrasiveness of the instrumentals. On Joy As An Act Of Resistance, however, there’s no hiding the poppier moments on tracks like Danny Nedelko and Great. The chorus of Great deftly subverts chants, that could sound like a rallying cry for nationalism and xenophobia, into a message of unity.
The devastating June, written about his daughter, helps to humanise Talbot as he trades the ideological debates for a more personal approach. Tracks like Love Song and a cover of Solomon Burke’s soul classic Cry To Me also help portray this softer, more vulnerable side of the band, but they’re back in full-force on closing track Rottweiler which takes aim at right-wing tabloids like The Sun.
The instrumentals on this record shift effortlessly from ominous slower moments to bombastic hardcore punk and really do a great job of framing Talbot’s vocals. Rottweiler is a prime example. The fierce guitar line and Talbot’s attack on Murdochian tabloids eventually evaporates into wailing guitar, laden with feedback, perfectly matching Talbot as he screams “Keep going, keep going… fuck ‘em!” to close out the album.
One qualm I often have with punk is that the anger often ends up feeling undirected, purposeless, but that’s not the case here. Joy As An Act Of Resistance has all the anger of the rawest, first-wave punk classic, but repackages it as a triumphant and inspiring expression of unity. In opening themselves up, IDLES become hugely powerful. A line from the track I’m Scum sums it up quite well: “This snowflake’s an avalanche,” and on this record, IDLES are an avalanche of hope in this shitty new world.
- Jack Jones.