Bob Vylan – He’s a Man Review

Another heavy stop-off for Bob Vylan ahead of their Humble as the Sun, Bob Vylan bring their honed criticisms to heady heights once more. Drug culture in the UK and the lads, lads, lads infection rotting pubs to their core is taken down, tackled by the fury and disgust of those touched by culture. Stereotypes at play, the Sunday roasts and getting a bag in before the big weekend are all at play and, in their way, terribly true. How an expectation through personality, attire or other poor judgements is made cannot be fully found but it is enough to mark the likes of He’s a Man as something which plays with generally agreed cliché. Bob Vylan does not play it up or fight against public classifications, it is what it is and people are who they are.  

There is no judgement on He’s a Man, that much comes from the listeners who either find themselves siding with Bobby Vylan and his lyrical revolution or those snorting away in pubs named after animals and inanimate objects. Laddish culture is taken down a step, the always-on-the-prowl creeps hogging the pool table at the local. Those who have been to boozers across the country know the style and observe it enough to know when to avoid it and where to warn off those in the area. He’s a Man captures this sense of being always on your toes, checking out who could be a threat to the good times, and it is there Bob Vylan continues the trend of essential adaptations of British culture.  

Similar in tone to the effortless appeal of Yard Act from their debut The Overload and beyond – it is clear where Bob Vylan lies in it allegiances, and it just so happens it is on the side of respectability and social etiquette. Plug your ears, Top Gear fans – this one is aimed at you. Stripping away the original funk and hardcore pressures to replace it with a simpler, wider post-punk was inevitable and it does work for Bob Vylan. Now is the time to decide how He’s a Man settles with you. Is it a track which gets a rise because you belt out God Save the Queen or is it a track which fills you with a sense of inept and smug pride for not having to be classed as sex-repellent by a rising set of songwriters? 

Either way, He’s a Man has the time to lash out at those who truly deserve it. Those in opposition are likely in the wrong on this one – and though Bob Vylan does not create an echo chamber, there is always the post-risk release of having it adapted into certain circles. The duo is walking a thin line but manages it well, their style now shifting closer to what many in this circle now find themselves fronting. Originality is key and the kick to the head gives other, more prominent post-punk artists who found themselves slogging away in a faux manner through the real working class, posing as mods in Sleaford for instance, a real sign of worry. Bob Vylan crack through with another expected shock to the system – they are getting great at that and long may it continue.