Spare Ribs by Sleaford Mods Williamson has a long-held and well-deserved reputation as someone who holds a mirror up to everyday working class lives and delivers acerbic austerity era commentary. My late nan would have loved his singing style because you can hear every word. This is a Sleaford Mods album that is really playing with well-established boundaries of their sound. On Spare Ribs the musical talents of Andrew Fearns come
more to the fore, and its welcome. On songs like Out There,
Mork n Mindy and Top Room you feel like youre in a clubwhich
is welcome in the context of our Covid-era social lives. This is still their characteristic minimalismoften only two or three sounds at any one time. But theyve strived for a bigger sound here and its paid off big time. Often its rooted in sounds that come out of the late 90s, early 00s dance scene. Williamsons singing is a bit less deadpan and a bit more relaxed. Theres one other well-trodden theme thats repeated on this album. Thats in criticising what he describes as class-tourism and artists who use social questions without understanding them. This is the subject of an ongoing three-way public feud with excellent contemporaries IDLES and Fat White Family. One note of criticism is Williamsons use of the c-wordalbeit employed here less than on other albums. My nan wouldnt like that and neither do I. But all in all its an album they can be very proud of. Alan Kenny |