Idles: Joy As An Act Of Resistance album review

Truth, loss and hope on Bristol post-punks’ second album

Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance

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Following their 2017 debut album Brutalism, Idles found themselves in a tricky, if familiar, position: as interest in the band mounted, they struggled with the pressures of coming up with an anticipated second album. Then tragedy engulfed vocalist Joe Talbot when he lost his baby daughter. His concerns about the band were thrown into sharp perspective. 

That second album is an honest, potent response to trauma – but one which, perhaps surprisingly, unearths hope in the depths of its grief. Lead-off single Danny Nedelko is a celebration of the support that can be found within communities, which owes a debt to Sham 69 with its raucous football chant chorus. Never Fight A Man With A Perm, Gram Rock and Samaritans each challenge suffocating stereotypes of modern masculinity, set to a soundtrack of taught, infectious post-punk. 

Then there’s June. While Talbot’s daughter permeates the record, this is where her loss is addressed directly. ‘Dreams can be so cruel sometimes/I dreamt I kissed your crying eyes’ comes the song’s opening couplet, before its sombre refrain ‘Baby shoes, for sale, never worn’. 

This album is a heart-breaking but jubilant exploration of joy, honesty, fragility and expression as our most powerful means of human resistance.

Briony Edwards

Briony is the Editor in Chief of Louder and is in charge of sorting out who and what you see covered on the site. She started working with Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog magazines back in 2015 and has been writing about music and entertainment in many guises since 2009. She is a big fan of cats, Husker Du and pizza.