A harsher, techno-edged, record to follow up their 2023 debut album.
The band are an English-French hybrid who split their time between Manchester and Berlin. English, French and German influences all shine through in their work. This follow up to their debut album, i’ve seen a way, is significantly harsher edged and more abrasive than their inventive debut.
Opener ‘Sevastapol’ is an unsettling blast of discordant beats, with the choppy, digitally treated voice of Valentine Caulfield singing/talking in French over the top. She has never been so hidden whilst singing on one of their tracks. It all settles down a bit on ‘Magazine,’ but there is still an aggressive urgency to it all, a sense of unease that never quite fades away. This album keeps you on your toes from start to finish.
‘try saying’ is a touch more hip-hop in the backing, Caulfield’s vocals pick up the energy in the way the music lead the first couple of tracks. ‘A Brighter Tomorrow’ feels almost Boards of Canada in its swirling, uneasy wooziness.
One of the standout artists of 2025, Billy Woods, brings his instantly recognisable flow to the essential album highlight ‘Sicko!’ The backing finds a focus that has drifted in and out during the rest of the album so far. Woods is typically on-point. The music video for it is interesting, each 30 seconds of the track was given to a different director/animator to come up with their own segment around the theme of sickness.
‘Sicko!’ goes straight into another of the singles, ‘Cursive.’ In an album of curveballs, the final track is still something of a shock. The near ever-present French disappears for this one and instead we get another worthy offering of recent tracks calling out toxic male behavior towards women, unleashed in English. It is dramatically effective, sounding like it is delivered by a woman in the middle of a night out who has just seen one horror too many, who cannot hold it in any longer.
URGH is a very worthy, interesting and somewhat unexpected album. It isn’t an easy listen, it isn’t something to relax and unwind to. You are going to have to be in the right mood for its musical shock tactics. The band have reached into the European melting pot and pulled out a shiny and vital nugget.
Essential Tracks: ‘Sicko!’ and ‘I’ll Ask Her.’
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