The first time I ever drove on the highway, I listened to an IDLES song.
Gripping the steering wheel with bloodless knuckles, my vision blurring from the sheer force of my skin-prickling anxiety, I barreled down the highway with the lyrics to “Never Fight a Man With a Perm” rattling around in the empty space where my brain was supposed to be.
IDLES, formed in Bristol in 2009, make music specifically for the situation I outlined above. Grimy, manic and thudding, IDLES is delightfully raucous.
“Tank” but with a bit of “G”
Back in October, they announced their upcoming album “TANGK,” which is set to come out Feb 14.
According to the band, the word “Tangk” is pronounced like “‘tank’ with a whiff of the ‘g'” and serves as an “onomatopoeic reference” to the band’s “lashing” guitars.
While the word may sit strangely in one’s mouth, it’s clear that “TANGK” is one of the band’s most ambitious projects yet.
As a preview, IDLES released “DANCER” on Oct 18.
Two months later in December, the band put out “GRACE.”
Most recently (Jan 15, to be exact), IDLES released another single from “TANGK,” “GIFT HORSE.”
The second song to appear on the album, “GIFT HORSE” is classic IDLES.
More fast-paced than “GRACE” and rougher around the edges than “DANCER,” “GIFT HORSE” — while not particularly striking on its own — is a fairly solid track to bolster the runtime of an album.
According to the band, “TANGK” will consist of 11 tracks and focuses on empowerment, trauma and community. I look forward to being able to listen through the whole thing come February.
