Albums of The Year # 52 Mush - 3D Routine

 From February:

Leeds band Mush have been on my radar for a couple of years now. Ever since their astonishing nine minute debut single Alternative Facts which BBC Music DJ Mark Riley played the life out of. It's now getting on to three years since then and after a number of EPs their first album 3D Routine has finally arrived.

So how is it? The first thing Mush might have going against them is singer Dan Hyndman's delivery. It's annoying. It might almost be meant to be annoying. It's certainly goofy. Bands who present themselves as a humorous concern almost inevitably leave themselves a mountain to climb. There's a reason why Joy Division are more revered than The Rezillos.

What Mush have definitely got going for them is an astonishing Post Punk angular guitar scaffolding. Part Television, part Wire, part Gang of Four, part Josef K. They are really quite bewilderingly inventive throughout the twelve tracks on show here. You would have thought that this particular seam was quite exhausted but Mush prove this is far from the case.Some of the guitar explorations here are thrillingly bruising.

So how to equate Hyndman's quirky approach with the excellence of the musical framework. Perhaps by imagining what Television would have sounded like had Richard Hell ousted Tom Verlaine from the band rather than the other way round. Because Hyndman certainly sounds rather like Hell and he was a man whose intent was certainly serious even though his approach often made it seem like he was primarily playing for laughs.

There's certainly seriousness in the record's lyrical concerns. Brexit Britain, island mentality, chlorinated chicken, alternative facts. We're living in a world that is almost beyond parody. Perhaps this goes some way to explain their modus vivendi. By the end of the record where they give Alternative Facts another run out, (and why not, it's an astonishing statement), I was convinced. Certainly enough to make sure I check the band out when they come to my home town next month. 3D Routine may appear on the surface to be wacky but don't let that put you off. There's much more here than meets the eye.