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NBHAP Rating: 4,4/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]DRENGE
Undertow
Release-Date: 06.04.2015
Label: Infectious Records
Tracklist:
01. Introduction
02. Running Wild
03. Never Awake
04. We Can Do What We Want
05. Favourite Son
06. The Snake
07. Side By Side
08. The Woods
09. Undertow
10. Standing In The Cold
11. Have You Forgotten My Name?
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Being 20-something really sucks. It does. Everyone is telling you ‘these are the best years of your life’ but you’re unsure what you’re doing, where you going and whether you can afford that double vodka rather than the single. Here’s a heads up; you can’t. DRENGE are the band for the 20-something disillusionment. Aggressive, unsure, directionless, Undertow is in the same vein as THE REPLACEMENTS‘ Let It Be.
The record opens with a purely instrumental Introduction before melting into J MASCIS-esque guitar riffs with long drone-y vocals in Running Wild. This juxtaposition of angry guitar with long foreboding vocals create a quietly explosive opening to this follow up record. Throughout the record, the loveless boys experiment with pure instrumental pieces in tracks like Undertow to quick drumming sequences in Favourite Son. Each track is a single entity progressing into a coherent, strong follow up to their debut record, Drenge.
The first two singles released are nestled quietly in the middle of the record creating an explosive mid piece. We Can Do What We Want perfectly encompasses the listener disillusionment with society, growing up and mostly important small town living. The two brothers hail from Castleton, a small country town in middle England. These experiences influence DRENGE’s sound and musical imagery. As MJ, of fellow Northern band HOOKWORMS, divulged in an interview recently bands feel they need to relocate to London to ‘make it’ and he believes this is a ‘load of bollocks’. The DRENGE boys, who currently still reside with their parents despite never being home, are indicative of this outdated notion of needing to relocate to the capital. Many bands from the North of England have been inspired by their small town living and its made them better musicians.
DRENGE draw influences from all types of musical genres and cite KANYE WEST as one of their influences among others. Unsurprisingly given he is the voice of generation completely disillusioned with society. You can hear different genres influences in this record too. We Can Do What We Want is reminiscent of the early PULLED APART BY HORSES sound, with angry chord progression and loud screaming vocals. Similarly repetitive drumming sequences are paralleled with dance inspired guitar riffs. It’s a party hard track, an angry dance start to an exciting party. Undertow nestles comfortably in the other sounds in Northern England in recent years, it encompasses a variety of sounds and genres. The tracks get angrier and portray this disenchantment with the world as it progresses. It is an LP that needs to be listened in full rather than through a shuffle button. It progresses, it grows.
One thing about ’s records that is particularly unique is the mirroring of the sound in their album art. The first record included images from a scrapyard and graveyard near their home in Derbyshire. This second record includes a lot of forest images, encapsulating the desolate nature of the album. Perhaps indictive of the loss in youth, the loneliness and frustration contained in this record, or perhaps just an artistic venture. The images are beautifully depressing and forlorn. DRENGE may be Danish for ‘boys’ but this record shows they are far from that. Undertow is out now via Infectious Records.
‘Undertow’ is a great follow up record that breaks the mould of bands not being able to live up to their debut, their sound takes a detour yet stays within the realms of ‘Drenge’.
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