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Reaching 30 years as a band together is a huge achievement (even if there’s been a bit of time out in the middle there), but by that milestone there’s an expectation and forgiveness from long-term fans that there’ll be a certain amount of coasting, of living on past glories. Then there’s coming back at that point with the most vital, inventive and best album you’ve put out in years. Guess which of those two options Skunk Anansie have smashed on The Painful Truth?
Ever since their 1995 debut Paranoid & Sunburnt, Skunk Anansie have existed in a category of one – there is simply no one else like them. But here, they’ve taken everything that made them special in the first place – the punk attitude, the driving rock melodies, and frontwoman Skin’s incredible voice – and rearranged it all into something thrillingly fresh and recognisably now.
From the opening blast of An Artist Is An Artist, sparks fly in a billion different directions at once. Its spiky punk has roots reaching down into their history, reaching back to the fury of Little Baby Swastikkka without actually retreading a single step of old ground, Skin firing wry shots at the online vitriol aimed at creatives – and specifically at older female artists. It’s as exciting as they’ve ever sounded, producer Dave Sitek encouraging a rawness that’s electrifying. “I didn’t hang around to be my own echo,” snarls a defiant Skin. Well quite.
It doesn’t so much introduce the album as kick down the doors and demand you listen on, and there’s plenty of variety to be found within. This Is Not Your Life is a vast electro beast, the one that demands a big laser show and a rapt audience. The moodier, more reserved and vulnerable Shame drips with soul, allowing Skin’s vocals to shine brightest. Cheers is deceptive, a nugget of effervescent joy that sounds effortless but burrows so fully into your brain it could easily be the work of an evil genius. And Shoulda Been You goes full Brixton with its heady dub-reggae cool.
In less skilled hands it would have sounded all over the shop, but the twists and turns make perfect sense from a band who've never conformed to trends and have steadfastly marched to the beat of their own drum. The Painful Truth finds Skunk Anansie at the absolute peak of their powers, and that’s no word of a lie.
The Painful Truth is out Friday, May 23
