Sleaford Mods
' EPs have always been as vital to their body of work as their albums, and this self-titled set of five songs is no exception. Though it seemed like
Jason Williamson
and
Andrew Fearn
couldn't get any bleaker than they did on
English Tapas
,
' brisk tempos and jaunty keyboards mask a viewpoint that's possibly even more despairing than before. Similarly, the characters in these blunt but deceptively layered tracks transform their free-floating rage at class warfare, corruption, and oppression into petty acts of violence aimed at the nearest target. On the excellent "Stick in a Five and Go,"
Williamson
plots to beat up an online troll by posing as a mailman; when he growls "you need to sign for it, mate" over
Fearn
's goading bassline, the need to hold someone -- anyone -- accountable is almost tangible. As immediate as
' frustrations might seem, the duo exposes its history with brilliantly chosen imagery. "Gallows Hill" is another standout: a glowering grind that juxtaposes a Victorian-era graveyard's previous incarnation as a public execution space with its present as a spot for drug deals and sex trafficking, it feels and sounds like a haunted, tainted loop of suffering. "Bang Someone Out" echoes this sentiment evocatively when
pauses the song's catharsis to note, "the plague rolls down from the hills up there...this is how it's gone on in the United Kingdom." Perhaps even more so than on their albums,
distill the songs on their EPs into potent vignettes. Loosely inspired by
's stint as a glass collector in a pub, saving leftover drinks for himself, "Dregs" sketches a life eked out on scraps with the simple line "the dregs are mine tonight." As vivid, eloquent, and artfully ugly as any of their full-lengths,
proves once again that there's no such thing as a stopgap release in
's world. ~ Heather Phares