The wheel turns again and unfortunately our heads are entering the water like a Duran Duran video. World turning shitter with empty suits floating around the rooms of power. The doomscroll addiction grips us in a depressive vortex…and here comes the new one from Sleaford Mods. I would call it “timely” but let’s face it, Sleaford Mods have been releasing the right music at the exactly the right since 2013’s Austerity Dogs started sneaking into the consciousness of those looking for the right words and the right attitude to sum up how coalition Britain was squeezing us all dry. This pattern has continued via every successive release with an ever expanding audience joining the ranks of the SMarmy.
Has much changed over the course of the last thirteen years? Yes and no. Tory Kong (© Jason Williamson) has been defeated but in its place lurks the more extreme Reform corporation. We are still unclear about who exactly resides in Number 10 as contradictions pile on us all on a daily basis. War, invasions, fascism….like I said, the wheel turns again. “What about the band?” I pretend to hear you cry, well things have certainly changed in their world also. Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn have continued to make slight edits and artistic advances throughout their career with one of the biggest changes coming from their ever increasing band of guests that have appeared on their albums. This has been very fruitful as the inclusion of these guest vocalists (many of whom are women) have allowed Sleaford Mods songs to start making their songs more like short films with each guest either playing a separate character or even part of Williamson’s own multifaceted personality. This last detail feels like the most important to The Demise of Planet X as the album, whilst containing the usual pointed observations on the political state of things, feels like the most inward looking and vulnerable set of lyrics Williamson has produced. Williamson has been sober for a number of years now and this feels like the album where he is truly addressing all of his many sides without needing to hide behind a character (that’s what the guests are for). Long gone is the drug and alcohol soaked ranter and in its place we have someone whose vocal delivery goes from medium paced storyteller to a skipping/clipped style via a solid singing voice and background vocal tic layer painting. We are also now dealing with a Williamson who seems to have turned away from criticising other bands to someone far more comfortable with the corner of the music world in which Sleaford Mods reside. The fact he manages this without losing any of his humour and anger is a balancing act most musicians would really struggle with.
Then there’s Andrew Fearn….
Anyone who has listened to Sleaford Mods over the years can tell how sonically the music has been developing over the years although not many of us could say that they could have foreseen the duo recording in Abbey Road studios which is exactly what they have done for this album. Fearn’s gift as a musician is his way of managing to pull the Sleaford Mods style in different directions whilst also remaining identifiable and true to their original sound. This is most apparent on The Demise of Planet X as this album feels like a true trip through the past and the future of Sleaford Mods, not just in the music they make but also in the music the duo obviously love. The album travels through Come To Daddy era Aphex Twin (No Touch) to warping Weatherall electronica (Kill List) via pristine indie (Elitest G.O.A.T) and the warped mushroom induced fear of The Magic Roundabout (The Demise of Planet X)There’s even a lovely nod to Unplugged Nirvana at the end of Double Diamond which Fearn is a known fan of as he has sampled the bands Nevermind closer Something In The Way in his solo project Extnddntwrk. The Demise of Planet X is definitely the most musically detailed album Sleaford Mods have made with only Megaton feeling like a song that could have appeared on any previous releases.
And those aforementioned guests? Every one feels like they belong within the Sleaford Mods universe, never feeling parachuted in for personality-pulling gravitas. From Snowy’s on-point bars to the surrealistic snark of Sue Tompkins, there is not a single misstep with the guest features, with each one helping to bring Williamson’s myriad of personas to vivid life. The song that best represents this is first single and album opener The Good Life. Here is a song that features not one but three guest vocalists in the shape of duo Big Special and Star Wars/Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie. This song, with all its various components could have been a stylistic mess. Instead we have quite possibly the best song Sleaford Mods have ever written. Its Big Special sang sections about phantoms and fathoms is the most infectious hook the band have released since the Billy Nomates sung Mork n Mindy and the unhinged delivery of Williamson’s darker side, played by Christie, is the band at their most theatrical and wonderfully OTT. For many bands the latter feature would have felt overblown or contrived yet it works so well in the context of the narratives themes and the overall message of the album. Musically, this is also the most dancefloor friendly song the band have written since 2019’s Kebab Spider.
Sleaford Mods have now had a lifespan long enough for fans to select their favourite eras. There will those that lean towards Austerity Dogs and Divide and Exit and there will be those that liked the change in gears that happened around Key Markets / English Tapas and of course you will have the fans who have, and will continue to, follow the band through every release always believing that the new album they put out to be better than the last. I make no secret of the fact that I belong in the latter camp but even with this level of self-awareness and potential bias I firmly believe that The Demise of Planet X represents another positive artistic step on a different path. It may lose a few of the older fans but here is an album that is sonically richer and more rewarding than anything the band have created to date and whilst it feels big in scope and is brimming with guest features, at its heart it is an album that is as lyrically and thematically vulnerable as it is boisterous and defiant.
Long may t’Mods continue….
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Review by Simon Tucker
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