We’re currently witnessing a sea change within indie music, specifically in what’s rising to the very top. It’s the result of a clearer dyad than ever, between the ‘indie poo’ crowd that’s met with disinterest at best and outright derision at worst, and the post-Fontaines fare generating much more positivity. It’s been very quick to happen, too. All of a sudden, outsider post-punk and alt-rock that’s allowed to be more thoughtful and probing are surging forward, embraced for some of their more challenging moments, rather than in spite of them. The image of Geese headlining a stage at Reading & Leeds this year is the perfect microcosm for it, honestly.
It’s worth stressing that bands like this have always been out there; Fontaines D.C. themselves were once amongst them. The difference is that they’re no longer sequestered outside of the mainstream purview, in no small part due to the rate in which this shift is picking up. Obviously Geese have held rank for a while, but just look at the miles racked up by Westside Cowboy and Bleech 9:3 this year. Keo release their debut full-length on the same day as Gurriers’ new album, and Basht.’s comes just a couple of weeks later. You don’t have to like the music, but as a conduit for more creative and interesting work to break through, it’s objectively a net positive.
If there’s one ship that this rising tide could easily lift more than others, though, it really would be Gurriers’. They already feel moulded as Fontaines’ heirs apparent—an Irish post-punk band, rough-necked and shoulder-chipped, with a populist ire that especially comes through live. There’s also some of IDLES’ shout-along sloganeering in there, as well as the noise-rock dalliances of The Murder Capital. It’s an effective blend, to be sure, and therefore, Nobody’s Coming To Save You becomes a real contender among indie-rock and post-punk’s current reshuffle.
What’s good about Gurriers is that they already carry themselves like heavyweights. There’s a thick, feature-complete sound here, with a lot of clear confidence in what it’s throwing about. Rarely is it too ‘obvious’ in song-craft, though it’s also not oblique for its own sake. Even when songs like Party Lines and Nothing Happens Twice are rooted in barrel-chested hooks, Dan Hoff’s co-opting of post-punk’s sardonicism and disaffection is rough enough to still feel unfriendly, not stylistic. In fact, despite not being able to turn a corner in Dublin without running into a band exactly like this, nothing about Gurriers suggests an overt ‘trendiness’. They’re too purposely mottled and ungainly for that.
It’s ultimately what Nobody’s Coming To Save You pushes forth as its key feature, as Gurriers funnel their rabble-rousing sensibilities through it. In the strife-filled climate that influences their work, an album like this presents more as a galvanising call to action than anything with specific answers. It’s the fact that Gurriers clearly have motives greater than simply spoiling for a fight that renders a lot of the criticism in this area as rather unfounded. Yes, educated interaction with the world is unquestionably a good thing, but so is the mobilisation that inspires that, and Nobody’s Coming To Save You pulls that off impeccably. There’s a lot of purposeful lyricism knotted with quotes from writers and philosophers, without negating the broad confrontationality at its core.
Even if Gurriers aren’t a particularly unique beast sound-wise, it’s the drive with which they perform that works for them so much. It’s particularly true in slower songs like Drones and I Wish I Was, painted with noisy, uneasy squeals amid a post-punk canvas that’s already alluringly bleak. Said bleakness also translates to something louder like Shades, powered by Pierce Callaghan’s padded, motorik drumbeat and filled out by squealing, clattering, metal-on-metal guitars and noise shards. Gurriers exhibit a particular fearlessness in composition that carries them along for miles. Guitars and basslines are regularly toothy and ferocious, revving heavily for the title track and Waiting For Fisher, but never sounding too easy on the ears. Pins probably gets the nearest to a ‘normal’ indie song with its fluttering guitar and easygoing tempo, though even that mutates into something longer and looming by the end.
The production, too, deserves a lot of praise, for just how much it heightens every part of Gurriers’ kit. Behind the boards are IDLES guitarists Mark Bowen and Geese producer Loren Humphrey, a dream team for an album like this even before you consider further contributions from Chris Fullard and John Congleton. The result feeds into Gurriers’ purpose so well, sporting shuddering, metallic tones and the feel of instruments wrestling inside themselves. Party Lines fares well with its sweating, squirming dance-punk throb, but the exposed, off-kilter sides of Nobody’s Coming To Save You see the greatest benefits. It’s what yields the industrial thunderclap of Today Is Not Enough or carnivorous Waiting For Fisher, two songs that treat Gurrier’s noise-rock palette as more than just a small side-serving.
Admittedly, none of this straightforward to get along with, and while the DNA of a band like IDLES is there, their instantaneous nature definitely is not. Gurriers are making full use of the generous boundaries that their current scene has drawn out. But at the end of the day, when you’re going into an album like Nobody’s Coming To Save You, is that not exactly what you want? This isn’t the faded photocopy of post-punk that overran the genre earlier in the decade; there’s grit and blood all over the place here, with no compunction towards it. Thus, it’s no wonder why Gurriers’ fortunes have been so far on the up lately—they’re exactly what their scene needs and wants.
For fans of: Fontaines D.C., IDLES, The Murder Capital
‘Nobody’s Coming To Save You’ by Gurriers is released on 25th September on Play It Again Sam.
Words by Luke Nuttall
