An ambitious debut album from a highly literate group of post-punk noise makers from Glasgow. Out on the 8th August.
Debut single ‘yeah,mud!’ released back in 2022 very much set the blueprint for everything that followed. Surprisingly dense, thoughtful lyrics, a wall of sound leaning towards indie-funk and post-punk. Many more singles followed, collected into two very good EPs. This album emerges two years after the second of those.
Vocalist Andreas Christodoulidis’ decision to learn Greek, his dad’s native language, and really explore his heritage was a trigger that has fed into much of this outcome. There are tales of real people such as Christodoulidis’ grandfather , imagined scenarios involving real people, references to historical figures and even characters from the Iliad. It could all of had a massive whiff of pretentiousness about it, however this is history as Peaker Blinders does it, not a dry documentary. This is primarily a post-punk album and it does not forget to rock out. It challenges, but it doesn’t forget to have fun.
The album starts boldly, with the contrastingly abrasive and melodic single ‘Neighbours.’ Humour know how to do quiet/loud with a real intensity of purpose. You almost fear for Andreas’ voice in the screamed verses whilst the sugary chorus is a totally different beast, one you could imagine on a Blur single. Lyrically it sets the tone with an odd little tale of a lonely guy who is convinced mischievous
creatures share his flat, making him suffer in a range of creative ways. There are some genuinely quirky ideas running through their songs that instantly make them stand out from the myriad of bland lads bands out there unable to articulate even a few worthwhile ideas.
‘Memorial’ swings in with epic guitar. It describes a scene from the Iliad where Andromache says goodbye to her husband Hector the night before he is killed in battle. The song references an Alice Oswald poem called Memorial about the same scene. Has Greek legend ever sounded so great?
‘Plagiarist’ details a battle that any writer will be familiar with. It is about running out of ideas, lacking belief and the fear of being discovered as a fraud. With the vast array of original thinking and clever borrowed ideas on this album none involved should maintain any of those fears.
The family feel of the narrative is accentuated by the appearances by Christodoulidis’ father. On ‘Learning Greek’ they both read from an essay about walking in Athens. We move from father to grandfather on ‘Dirty Bread’ which details the way his grandfather fills his days as he gets older.
‘Die Rich’ is about amassing offerings to give to the ferryman on the way to the afterlife. It bashes along to the sort of soundtrack Squid would be proud of. Squid are equally fond of lead characters with suspect morals and would approve of ‘I Knew We’d Talk About It One Day.’ In this the protagonist, an ex-soldier, has done something unforgivable and is now torn about opening up about it.
‘I Only Have Eyes’ features an excellent contribution from Theo Bleak. She has released an EP based around The Iliad which was perhaps the shared love catalyst for this collaboration. ‘In the Paddies’ is the startling highlight of the album, a recent Reading Indie Life Single of the Week. Christodoulidis’ quirky vocal delivery, employed at different points of the album, hits best here against the see-sawing off kilter guitar, contrasting with the utterly phenomenal choruses.
Learning Greek is a quite incredible album simply because of the scale of the intellect swimming around the edges of it and the bizarre and challenging content. Zinging from The Iliad, to a serial killer who is himself murdered, to questioning resurrected historical dead figures is not your standard album fare. Music is forever better for the mavericks swinging through it like a bulldozer, taking their own path and giving zero f***s about what anybody else thinks. Lyrically the dark and deep turns might prove off-putting to some, however the music is so strong I can see plenty enjoying this without actually stopping to consider what a lot of the content is even about.
If this album were a novel it would be a collaborative effort by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Haruki Murakami. Right now, I absolutely love this album. I can see the relationship to it evolving with more listens; however I feel that it will be strengthening the relationship rather than seeing it diminish. It is rare to be so utterly blown away by the lyrical narrative arc of a set of songs. This is like listening to early Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds in that every song constructs an utterly interesting concept or character and wraps you into its detailed world. Humour do not quite have the musical lightness of touch of The Bad Seeds, but this skilled band propel through their offering with real ferocity and intent. We are going to the album release party on the 12th of August at The Social and look forward to seeing them in action and getting a better understanding of what drives them. Unbelievably, there are still tickets for this on DICE, they are FREE! What are you waiting for? Get in on the ground floor of this remarkable band while you still can.
Reading Indie Life 
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