British rock outfit IDLES will make their highly anticipated return to Australia in support of their new album, TANGK.
TANGK is the vibrant fifth album from IDLES, pronounced “tank” with a hint of “g.” This onomatopoeic reference evokes the sound of the band’s guitars and symbolizes living in love. The record is their most ambitious and striking work yet, transitioning from a focus on societal critique to an exploration of love, joy, and gratitude for existence.
The album radiates a radical sense of defiant empowerment, co-produced by Nigel Godrich, guitarist Mark Bowen, and Kenny Beats. Frontman Joe Talbot brings hard-earned soul to the ten songs, transforming heartfelt vows and solidarity pleas into communal anthems meant for overcoming grievances.
Lead single “Dancer” captures the essence of the album, featuring throbbing bass and ricocheting guitars that allow Talbot to explore themes of sweat and sex on the dancefloor, alongside appearances from LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Nancy Whang. This track embodies a playful and positive spirit, delivering the mantra: “I give myself to you/As long as you move on the floor.”
Through his lyrics, Talbot communicates the rapture of new relationships and the special bond between IDLES and their fans. The album serves as a vow to uplift and fight alongside their listeners, offering joy, hope, and love as tools for survival in the face of darkness. TANGK is a love album—open to everyone who seeks something to shout about, ensuring that no one feels alone in their struggles.
British rock outfit IDLES will make their highly-anticipated return to Australia in support of their new album, TANGK. TANGK is the righteous and vibrant fifth album from madcap truth-seekers, IDLES. Pronounced “tank” with a whiff of the “g” - an onomatopoeic reference to the lashing way the band imagined their guitars sounding that has since grown into a sigil for living in love - the record is the band’s most ambitious and striking work yet. Where IDLES were once set on taking the world’s piss, squaring off with strong jaws against the perennially entitled, and exercising personal trauma in real time, they have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: love, joy, and indeed gratitude for the mere opportunity of existence. A radical sense of defiant empowerment radiates from TANGK, co-produced by Nigel Godrich, IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen, and Kenny Beats. Despite his reputation as an incendiary post-punk sparkplug, frontman Joe Talbot sings almost all the feelings inside these 10 songs with hard-earned soul, offering each lusty vow or solidarity plea as a bona fide pop song—that is, a thing for everyone to pass around and share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievance. Lead single “Dancer” stands as the throbbing and scuzzy highlight at the album’s center - rattling bass and ricocheting guitar giving Talbot space to talk about sweat and sex on the dancefloor. (You will spy LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Nancy Whang here, too, singing.) It is lascivious and playful and positive, the ecstatic sound of at least a temporary fix. In the improvised hook, Talbot offers IDLES’ essential new mantra: “I give myself to you/As long as you move on the floor.” He is singing about the rapture of a new relationship, but he is also singing about the special dynamic between IDLES and their fans, or IDLES and the world at large. This is a band’s vow to keep lifting and fighting for themselves and their listeners, to keep offering the grim persistence of joy and hope and love and wonder as long as that’s what anyone needs to survive. It is a love song the same way that TANGK is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever.
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