idles

Gliding easily into a new iteration that feels as fresh and exciting as the first time we clapped ears on these Bristol botheration experts, 'Tangk' is the sound of a band operating entirely under their own stead with no cares, concerns, and considerations beyond making the exact music that THEY want.

And what they want chops and changes from track to track, with piano-led croons, soulful strings, and, dare we say it, pleasant melodies vying for space amongst the expected array of angle-grinder guitars, destruction derby poetics, and all-out rawk built like the proverbial 'Tangk'. 'TANGK' is the righteous and vibrant fifth album from madcap truth-seekers, IDLES. Pronounced “tank” with a whiff of the “g” - an onomatopoeic reference to the lashing way the band imagined their guitars sounding that has since grown into a sigil for living in love - the record is the band’s most ambitious and striking work yet. Where IDLES were once set on taking the world’s piss, squaring off with strong jaws against the perennially entitled, and exercising personal trauma in real time, they have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: love, joy, and indeed gratitude for the mere opportunity of existence.

A radical sense of defiant empowerment radiates from 'TANGK', co-produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen. Despite his reputation as an incendiary post-punk sparkplug, frontman Joe Talbot sings almost all the feelings inside these 10 songs with hard-earned soul, offering each lusty vow or solidarity plea as a bona fide pop song—that is, a thing for everyone to pass around and share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievance. 'TANGK' is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever.