Sleaford Mods: 'UK GRIM'
“This is UK Grim / Put it in the fucking bin,” spits Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson during the outro of their new album-opening title track ‘UK GRIM’. It’s over a decade since the duo first released their first album together; 2013’s ‘Austerity Dogs’ was a snarling assessment of what he called “Broken Britain,” railing against the hostile environment and thought puddles like UK Plc, while offering a collective disdain for contemporary, fame-hungry pop stars.
A lot has changed since, though, despite that, Sleaford Mods’ original anti-establishment message still rings true; after all, whilst Williamson targets specific figures like Liz Truss, Nigel Farage and Gavin Williamson (no relation) in his lyrics, it’s the idealism, and values — a specific cultural vacuity — that these people operate within that he’s remonstrating about. This is heard in full effect on ‘Right Wing Beast’, “What’s gone on / What can I See / You’re all getting mugged by the aristocracy”, is repeated with snarling grit like a rallying cry for people dogged in a war with themselves and propagandised right-wing thinking. On ‘D.I.Why’ Williamson takes aim at the slew of sprechgesang that continues to flood the UK music scene, “You’re in a shouty band ya not original man / Ya like the edgy version of something shit,” he delivers with a vigour that can only come from truly-held opinion.
Whilst Williamson is often the figure most associated with Sleaford Mods, given his commandeering stage presence, and position as the sole voice that binds and extricates the united message often found within their tracks, ‘UK GRIM’ spotlights the workings of Andrew Fearn more than any Sleaford Mods album has in the past; bringing more colour, tone and hip-hop influences to their sound, his compositions are as tight as ever, providing highlights like the genre-hopping, laidback punk cut ‘On The Ground’ and keys-heavy number ‘Apart From You’.
Several collaborations also provide hints of light and shade, toning down the political vitriol and social commentary at the most heightened of moments, creating a wave-like flow of breaks and crashes. Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw assists in an intense two-hander, ‘Force 10 From Navarone’, that doubles as an ode to the collective struggle currently felt as the cost of living crisis worsens. Elsewhere, Jane’s Addictions’ Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro guest on ‘So Trendy’, a skittish electronic number that assesses and condemns Williamson’s perceived dangers of internet culture.
Despite providing an unflinching decimation of the ruling classes on ‘UK GRIM’, the record is as much about celebrating the idealists and individuals that make this sceptred isle such a lovely-ugly place to call home. Williamson himself has spoken fondly about his pride for the “horrible grey streets and shit weather,” that have provided the model backdrop for their latest accomplished body of work. “It’s just that the English we’re proud of being is absolutely nothing like the English the authorities want to try and promote,” Williamson states resolutely. ‘UK GRIM’ is here to stay… for the time being anyway.
