Album Review: shame - 'Drunk Tank Pink'
shame have returned with a newfound level of gentleness, but this certainly hasn’t stifled their excellence with their sophomore LP ‘Drunk Tank Pink’.
The South Londoners were young men fuelled by anger when their debut LP ‘Songs Of Praise’ which was direct in its punches and garnered them unprecedented praise for their craftmanship and intensity. That intensity transcended into their everyday life, with two years on the road making a period of decompression a necessity.
A main theme of this follow up effort is reinvention, with this band actively admitting of growing bored of playing their guitar music and it sees this band trying to make sense of what constitutes semi-normal life. ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is a kaleidoscope of new soundscapes for this quintet with fragility and hauntingly beautiful displays of isolation and frustration.
It’s hard to nail down an overarching theme for this album, which in terms of ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, isn’t a bad thing as this five-piece apply the punk attitude to bend the foundation of genres. From the retro feel of ‘Nigel Hitter’ and ‘March Day’, to the emotional percussion-based ‘Human, For A Minute’, it certainly solidifies the fact that Shame aren’t a one trick pony.
Die-hard fans shouldn’t despair, as the likes of ‘Water In The Well’ and lead single ‘Alphabet’ sees them pick back up those guitars and turn the tap on some pent up rage as they bring the house down with one of their heaviest outings to date.
Once you’ve found time to breathe, you can reflect on a band that aren’t only fearless but welcome the evolution of their sound. shame have smashed their way out of the box they created, gifting us an album that takes us down so many different paths and isn’t sorry for it and rightfully leads them back on the post-punk throne.
Words by Danial Kennedy