ALBUM REVIEW: Mclusky – ‘the world is still here and so are we’

Here it is—the return of Mclusky, having now inked a multimillion-dollar deal with Ipecac that promises global arena and stadium touring opportunities, and chart-bothering gateways the likes of which they’ve never seen.

If you believed any of that, you’re either not too bright, or you’ve been lethally cynicism-poisoned by just how many pointless, fruitless reunions have come about. It happens, but expecting the same from Mclusky? Not likely. If their mitosing into additional post-hardcore snarksters Future Of The Left and The St. Pierre Snake Invasion says anything, it’s that this is the lane for them. Sounds like a good indicator for where they’ve returned to, then—21 years after The Difference Between Me And You Is That I’m Not On Fire, Mclusky’s bag of irreverent tricks has gone unchanged. That’s meant entirely as a compliment, by the way.

You can really tell they haven’t been out of practice, as well, when this precise approach is just like a second skin to them. unpopular parts of a pig is a rattling statement of intent to open with, as 2000s-era Britrock and post-hardcore cues slam against a noise-rock bassline to leave the overall form jagged and dented. All the while, Andy Falkous continues to show off one of the most inimitable voices in alt-rock, nasally reciting one-liners and nonsequiturs with total, absolute purpose. And that’s really the basis for the world is still here and so are we, as if no time has passed. Maybe some lines are a bit straighter than something like Mclusky Do Dallas was, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker.

The most important components of Mclusky have been preserved immaculately here, perhaps even fishing for a little more straightforward longevity. Don’t be spooked by a statement like that—even if the likes of cops and coppers or autofocus on the prime directive are catchier, it’s still through the lens of frayed, jerky post-hardcore that Mclusky-isms are built on. The album isn’t not ready to collapse just because it’s tightened a screw or two. To argue so would ignore the frequent bouts of mania imperative in making a song like kafka-esque novelist franz kafka charge by, or the instrumental tones converted into gnarled truncheons on unpopular parts of a pig or juan party-system. There are also the slower, more openly grinding songs in which Mclusky channel deep-seated musical impulses, arguably for a number of the album’s highlights. At times, there’s almost a memetic, hypnogogic quality to the battle of anglesea and the digger you deep, blessed with a three-pronged bushel of immovable earworm refrains, the noisy, grungy edge to beef them up, and a melodic instinct to keep everything held firm.

There’s just a lot of entertainment value that’s been funnelled into the world is still here…, side-effects of Mclusky’s colliding twin fronts of resolute post-hardcore and a love of obtuseness within it. It’s what ultimately separates them from bands of a similar vintage (and, honestly, not a million miles away in style) like Hundred Reasons, who were always more straight-laced and felt fit to embrace that in their own return. Mclusky, meanwhile, are still knotting and tying lyrical threads to not come apart from mere picking. Their own press release comes out with the gem of “subjects as rich and as varied as work-it-out-yourself and impenetrable-inside-joke-for-the-band”, leaving the irascibility dripping from each line to speak for itself. It is funny, though; that’s the main thing. Even if you haven’t a single idea of themes or ideas or throughlines (which will be most of the time, to be honest), the personality that gushes out unimpeded is more than enough of a consolation. Failing that, just get to the digger you deep’s faux-grandiose assertion of “You’d be better off getting a job / Than performatively beating your meat” for an immediate pick-me-up.

It’s not like it’d come to a point where you’d need that sort of drastic action, though. There’s exceptionally little to fault across the world is still here…, and the return of Mclusky in general, really. Not only is it entirely true to form, but said form has only found more and more ways to delight after its two decades of absence. It helps immensely that this feels like a result of passion, how Mclusky’s comeback was done entirely out of want. It’s a great feature for bands to still cherish, and having it there reaps the most enormous of rewards. Great stuff, and coming around not a moment too soon.

For fans of: Future Of The Left, Meat Wave, Fucked Up

‘the world is still here and so are we’ by Mclusky is released on 9th May on Ipecac Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall