Idles – Grace Review

There is grace in dance and dance in grace. Idles has urged their listeners to get close and throw themselves around with first Tangk single Dancer – their hopes of a completely redundant word retrofitted into a state of feeling further down the line is a shaky yet optimistic endeavour. Thick basslines and one-note charms of their opening single are stirred on further with Grace, a track which deploys the same darkness found in the opening. But instead of a rising turn for the audience to act on, frontman Joe Talbot is a pleading individual, holding out hope for this act of mercy. What it relates to, who it touches, is as unclear as the album title and Idles finds a pointed structure of acceptance and relatability in this.  

Expecting an explosive mid-section as the LCD Soundsystem-featuring track from last month did is a fool’s play. Grace sticks to its guns. Thumping, grinding and whining away with no Gods or Kings. Repetition of these lacking states of play, the continuation on after Talbot fades into the back to some electronic cries for help. Grace has turned anything predicted about Tangk on its head – and doubled down on those outer cries of new possibilities. Deploying an almost creeping sensation at the start before jutting in with a bass to build up and up is a similar principle to Dancer but the experience wildly differs – there is a fluidity to this pairing though. You cannot dance and stay cheek to cheek when pleading for a safe place to hide out and be held.  

Love is the thing, after all. Grace presents this real and sudden opportunity to strip someone of all they perceive as worth and give them a reset. As The Beatles said, love is all you need. Oxygen too, probably. The point Grace seems to be making though, and it is wonderful of Talbot to produce these fearful words, is beyond the self and the soul there is nothing else which matters. Nothing of a higher deity or outmoded social status as the Gods and Kings mentioned within provide but a real and clear desire to denounce that which does not cure the soul. Just love. Let the jammed and wiry electricals play it out – the sounds of which were somewhat muffled but still present on preceding single Dancer. 

Range is always the key and Idles always had plenty of it. They showcase this once more – the plodding and well-layered repetition a pull back to earth after the stratospheric mood-changer provided by the band on Dancer. This is different to what the band has done before. Make clear this is a positive – because it is. Any band as secure in their status as post-punk players as Idles take risks when and where they can because it keeps them, and their music, fresh. Excitement is around every corner even when they procure a darker flourish to their work. A real change of pace to their first Tangk single – a smart plan considering the time between now and the album’s release will be wondering, fearfully and with great interest, what comes next.