THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Legendary postmodern, post-punk, post-human, past-caring collective Mekons are back with a brand-new album for 2025. Horror provides a horribly prescient reflection of the world in its current miasma — and how we got here.
Horror looks at history and the legacies of British imperialism with mashed up lyrics set against a typically eclectic sound that amalgamates everything from dub, country, noise, rock ’n’ roll, electronica, punk, music hall, polka and you can even take your partner for a nice waltz on Sad And Sad And Sad. The roots of their global sound reflect their nomadic journey through time and space from Leeds to California in the West and Siberia in the East and is woven into the fabric and intricacies of their song creation.
Sounding like The Chills and R.E.M. during their I.R.S. Records years, Mudcrawlers sees just about the whole band joining Jon Langford on vocals speaking of Irish famine and refugees journeying to Wales. War Economy shivers in the cold of spiked one-liners: “Clinical coercion will not achieve dominance!” Sounding like it’s straight off a Jenny Holzer neon sign (she of Abuse Of Power Comes As No Surprise), it’s held together by a disgruntled swaggering riff that underpins an explosion of disquiet.
Rico Bell takes the lead on the maliciously luscious Fallen Leaves an appalled and appalling Hammer Horror take on climate breakdown. Reminiscent of Rolling Thunder-era Bob Dylan, it also recalls The Pogues at their most introspective, its Celtic twilightism augmented by Susie Honeyman’s keening violin as the dying sun sinks down and the river Styx flows on in the pitch-black night.
Almost 50 years in the making, these Mekons continue to astound, their sound, sentiment and method of delivery blended to perfection by bassist and studio wizard Dave Trumfio. The Mekons are Langford, Bell, Honeyman, Trumfio, Sally Timms, Tom Greenhalgh, Steve Goulding and Lu Edmonds.”
