Future of the Left: Curses (Album Review)
If you’ve read past the headline, I’m assuming you’re familiar with late Welsh punk rockers McLusky and their manic attack. If not, do yourself a favour and pick up McLusky Do Dallas, one of the best rock albums of the 00s (not saying much, perhaps, but it’s something) with it’s manic Jesus Lizard textures and Pixies-style hooks. Then check out the darker and heavier The Difference Between You and Me is I’m Not On Fire, a noisier, angrier affair, which came a few months prior to their breakup in 2005.
But this isn’t an article about McLusky; that’s all back story. The real deal is that primary singer Andy Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone teamed up with bassist Kelson Mathias to form Future of the Left and release Curses, a record every bit as hard hitting and quirky as its predecessors, without sounding like a retread.
Falkous’ lyrics remain as mean and surreal as ever, with opener “The Lord Hates a Coward” crunching heavy and going on about how “violence solved everything” and multiple references to hiding bodies throughout the album. The band alternates between longer, more structured numbers, and Wire-esque toss-offs of noise and rhythm like “My Gymnastic Past” and “Fuck the Countryside Alliance.”
While the band works mainly in guitar-based post-punk (or post grunge, or whatever you want to call it nowadays) some syntheseizers creep in, adding a different sort of noise to the proceedings. “Manchasm” has Mathias’ fuzzy basslines anchoring the song while Falkous fist-fucks an organ and howls about ghosts and pussy, while “Suddenly It’s a Folk Song,” the poppiest number here, could be new wave if the keys weren’t so distorted. The melody provides relief from some of the album’s jerkier moments, while the sound remains consistent.
What we have here is a solid debut by seasoned veterans that keeps the strengths of former projects while still looking ahead. If it’s a bit scattershot at times, that can be chalked up to the band finding its legs. What’s more, is it’s a rock release in 2007 that keeps clear of simpering trend-jumping or hopeless retro-fetishism. Do yourself a favour, check it out.
Wrigley Scott
Adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood
Posted in Music |
December 28th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
thanks for writing about this. this album kills, and it seems like its been complete ignored. they need to quit touring england and come to america and help me get over not seeing mclusky live.
December 29th, 2007 at 10:09 am
This album is really cool. It sounds even better live. They were really, really awesome when I saw them, which made me regret even more that I never saw mclusky live…
Nice review!
December 29th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
This is good shit. I loved the ..do dallas album and im enjoying this even more. Good stuff to walk around to. Boom buddyhead!
December 29th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I loved McClusky but haven’t been paying enough attention to know this existed. Thanks for the heads up. I just grabbed it on eMusic.
ian
December 30th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
This record rules. I always end up having to listen to “Suddenly, it’s a folk song” like 3 or 4 times in a row… I hope these dudes hit the states soon.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am
my favorite album of the past year, good job keeping up there graham. im trying to spread the gospel to everyone i know.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Shooting at Unarmed Men is the other Mclusky offshoot if anyone cares. It’s not as good as Future of the Left, more Jesus Lizard-ish though. Check it out.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
yeah, Shooting at Unarmed Men is good as well, but I thought FOTL made a better album. SAUM definitely got McLusky’s grungier side, though.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:23 am
I will definitely check this out because McClusky is one of those reference point bands for me. For some reason I feel personally responsible for their breakup.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:04 am
By the way… these dudes jumped on the Cardiff show Jubilee recently played and KILLED IT! Super cool guys as well. I like Future of the Left more than I liked McLusky I think.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:11 am
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