IDLES

Joy As An Act Of Resistance PARTISAN RECORDS

If you were asked to put 2018 in review, chances are themes like Brexit, Trump and the global refugee crisis wouldn’t be far from your thoughts. With this in mind, IDLES’ second album Joy As An Act Of Resistance is very much a product of its time. Focussing on the importance of collective unity in the face of growing global disenfranchisement, lead single Danny Nedelko celebrates the simple, beautiful power of community and of the open-minded, while elsewhere tracks like Samaritans offer a damning takedown of modern masculinity’s suffocating stereotypes to a soundtrack of infectious post-punk.

That the album itself was born from significant personal tragedy for vocalist Joe Talbot makes its moments of single-minded optimism all the more infectious, and while loss permeates the album, as a piece of work it serves as an inspiring – if brutally honest – exploration of the human condition. BE

Killer track: Danny Nedelko