Posted by The truth can be hard to come by these days, but Mush are beyond trying to spell it out for us. Just a year on from their convincing debut mission statement, ‘3D Routine’, the Leeds art-rock trio’s witty and politicised rhetoric has wasted little time to resurface, this time addressing institutionalised collusion and the unbated spread of so-called ‘fake news’ that continues to infect headlines and newsfeeds worldwide.
A tightly worded manifesto against misinformation, the band’s swift follow-up, ‘Lines Redacted’ ignores the cotton-wooled pleasantries and preaches straight-talking facts with the sort of unapologetic, piss-taking cynicism specific to the most razor-sharp of British satire. “Peroxide Dye, what could go wrong? Blondes have more fun,” lampoons Daniel Hyndman on opening track, ‘Drink The Bleach’. Poor medical advice or instructional suicide? His sardonic rasp makes both equally plausible with the departing President’s grossly misguided public address still succeeding to transcend the boundaries of meme culture and reality.
Often lifted by angular, bug-eyed guitars, Mush can’t help but approach matters with considerable levity. Hyndman revels in the irony of American patriotism being the product of KGB-controlled algorithms on ‘Bots!’. His cutting and sarcastic remarks are telling of one nation’s innate habit of being easily led.
Venting his frustration at impotent political attitudes, Hyndman takes aim at public accountability on the fast moving ‘Seven Trumpets’. Past the point of delivering a rallying war cry, his triumphant call to arms is reduced to shameless parody on ‘Positivity’. His caricature of tired British stereotypes is intentionally patronising and aims the to rile listeners into action rather than continue on the same collision course of idle responsibility.
It all comes to a heady climax on the swirling finale, ‘Lines Discontinued’ where scribbles of societal miscues trail off the page edge in trying to compress the bleak state of affairs that we consistently find ourselves in.
8/10
Words: Ollie Rankine
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