With their 5th album, TANGK, released on 16th February: IDLES are in a completely different mood.

Opener ‘Idea 01’ sets the tone with a lighter more lyrical feel. Dispensing with the reinforcing guitar-on-bass-on-kick-drum which characterises their distinctive sound; the open syncopated rhythm is disarming. Piano carries more of the percussive weight of this album too, also marking a more melodic direction. It builds to such a dense flurry in places that it’s almost overwhelming.

They continue their use of distortion, synths and electronic sounds from their previous album, Crawler. It intensifies with ‘Gift Horse’ – less raw, and more richly layered. The texturing creates a polyphonic soundscape, a welcome reprieve from the singular pile-driving rhythms, no longer needed to drive their point home.

But still marching forward nonetheless, always in motion.

Lead singer Joe Talbot is singing these days too, rather than shouting. His melody lines soar above the instruments. You can’t talk about IDLES without Talbot. He is the driving force and energy. A relentless kick drum in human form, he’s evidently more at rest now. More reconciled. No longer caught up in the thick of his trauma and triggered anxiety.

Their music has found its soul – looked itself in the mirror and discovered an interior life. Even in the high energy songs, there is a meditative quality. And there’s unquestionable joy too.

‘Pop Pop Pop’ makes you want to dance. Could that be said about their previous albums? Jumping, stomping perhaps… but dancing? No. It soars, it inspires: “Love is the thing”, Talbot sings.

‘Roy’ is a nostalgic 50s ballad, tempered by heavily distorted guitar. There are shades of rock and roll and references to the Kinks in song ‘Hall and Oates’. While ‘Grace’ channels Manic Street Preachers and Radiohead.

Talbot sings in a purring falsetto showing his vocal versatility to imbue lyrics with any emotion he chooses. You lean in as he repeats, “Love is the thing”.

Nostalgia is there in ‘Dancer’ too, a collaboration with LCD Soundsystem. The rush of strings at the outset evokes romantic old musicals, soon interrupted by thudding drums and pick-struck bass – “cheek to cheek and hip to hip” (a chorus of voices sing). Though the darker themes still tug, this album undoubtedly expresses a newfound freedom.

On ‘Gospel’ it’s hard not to picture late-night sessions at an old piano. It’s a more soulful sound, worshipful even. There’s an ethereal bitter-sweetness too.

Is Talbot still angry? I don’t know. But it’s more reflective now, empowered, repentant – the sober judgement that comes after the big fight. This is where you make your decisions and set your intentions. You have found your clarity.

‘Jungle’ combines all these elements, with a characteristic sense of urgency. “Save me from me, I’m found I’m found I’m found”, Talbot sings inferring a spiritual journey. From cosmic abandonment to coming home. Finally feeling heard, ‘Gratitude’ picks it up with driving metronomic beats, and thrashing guitars.

The final song ‘Monolith’ imposes itself with distorted piano and guitar strings struck like deadened bells. Metallic and space-like, it has an otherworldly quality. It ends implausibly with saxophone – a subtle reference to John Coltrane.

Talbot has transcended.

TANGK is IDLES’ Love Supreme.

© Alexandra Noel. All rights reserved February 2024