by Conor Lochrie (@conornoconnor)
For those of an American persuasion who might not have heard, the British government this week offered NHS nurses a - to put it mildly - paltry 1% pay rise. They claimed that this amount was all that could be afforded right now, showcasing supreme gall. What they have been able to offer since the onset of COVID-19 however, as nurses have gone through the year from hell, is the nationwide support of a good old bloody hand clap daily at 6pm. “Clap, clap, clap, yeah, positivity” sings Mush’s lead singer Dan Hyndman on “Positivity,” a song from their latest album Lines Redacted, and the sarcasm and frustration simmers in these lyrics.
Much of what Mush does on their second LP is political. The wonky “Bots!” cites Russian bots and political interference; the delightfully sardonic “Drink the Bleach” contains the lines “On the inside / Peroxide dye / What could go wrong? / Blondes have more fun.” A political British post-punk album is hardly a new concept but what makes it work is Hyndman’s vocals: where the growling idyllic gospel of IDLES can come off preachy, Hyndman’s delivery is so chaotic and ridiculous that the ludicrousness of the current political climate is laid bare. This is the great power of Dan Hyndman: he performs like your high school friend who wouldn’t stop doing South Park affectations but it’s somehow so magnetic and exciting.
While they’re making their move during Britain’s recent post-punk revival (Mush are from Leeds while the scene is dominated by London-based bands), rhythmically, they are more connected with their Atlantic counterparts: they showcase the angularity of Omni (“Blunt Instruments”) with the raucousness of early Parquet Courts (“Dusting for Prints”). The post-punk throughout is never repetitive. “Lines Redacted” is jittery and jumping before swerving into the tumbling guitars of the light and lithe “Seven Trumpets”. The rising menace and dissonance of “Morf” recalls Sonic Youth’s “Mildred Pierce”. “Hazmat Suits” plays with alternative rock patterns. It all somehow comes to a close with a long, dreamy, and druggy comedown that would have made the Velvet Underground happy on “Lines Discontinued”.
The guitar work is testament to the skills of the band’s late Steven Tyson, who sadly passed away at the end of last year. The riffs that unravel on Lines Redacted and their previous releases hint at a supreme talent who was on the verge of a great career. Now a trio, Mush certainly possesses enough quality elsewhere to carry on his legacy. The warbling and wacky delivery of Hyndman, aided by their acidic political commentary, mark Mush out as one of the most fascinating British post-punk outfits to emerge from the genre’s recent resurgence.