Why I was wrong to think Idles obvious and depressing

I never had Idles down as a great Bristol band, I confess. In fact, I never had them down as very much of anything at all. Through occasional and accidental contact, I associated the quintet with a cadre of unlovely groups – Sleaford Mods, Shame, Soft Play (formerly Slaves), Viagra Boys – that emerged in the 2010s and made shouty, angry music which wanted to Say Something Important about our times, most of it pretty obvious and deeply depressing. Idles had a song called ‘I’m Scum’. It was a hard pass from me – more or less sight unseen.

Turns out I got it wrong; or perhaps Idles got it wrong. In any case, we’ve both changed our tune. Their last album, Crawler, turned the tables on that splenetic politico-punk in favour of something considerably more personal, poetic and musically eclectic. If there was a flaw, it was that Crawler felt overly long and scattershot, too wilfully trying to upend audience expectations.