Lines Redacted

Lines Redacted is available in an indie store exclusive clear vinyl LP.

Leeds-based art-rock trio Mush release their feverish second album, Lines Redacted, via Memphis Industries. The new release, which finds the group recruiting Lee Smith (The Cribs, Pulled Apart By Horses) on mixing duties, arrives just under a year after their debut, 3D Routine, capping off what has been an obviously tumultuous but remarkably prolific year for the band. With any prospect of live shows decimated, the group, led by songwriter Dan Hyndman, have found the time to release two EPs (Great Artisanal Formats and Yellow Sticker Hour) and now a duo of full-length albums.

Tipped previously by the likes of 6 Music, Loud & Quiet, Uncut, Q, Stereogum, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Dork and more, Mush, comprised of Hyndman (guitar/vox), Nick Grant (bass/vox) and Phil Porter (drums), present their own sonic idiosyncrasy. It’s a sound that blurs the lines of abstract surrealism, existentialism and social commentary; utilising guitars as tools in 2020 to stave off malaise whilst simultaneously commenting on the nation’s ability to fall into such dire straits. It’s a sensory overload of wiry tones that zig-zag between punk, prog and sardonic-funk with a relentless ability to reflect society’s faults and apathy in a unique and acerbic manner.

Whereas the band’s debut was very much a product of its time, something part-inspired by the political atmosphere of mid-2019 and a genuine moment of optimism when the prospect of a socialist government in the UK was on the cards, this new record uses tongue-in-cheek cynicism as a coping mechanism for the environment that we now find ourselves in. From one song to the next, Lines Redacted introduces a string of different narrators with each providing a different reflection on the Armageddon scenario that we are slowly entering, whether that’s bemoaning it or gleefully willing it along. 3D Routine presented a bed of scathing political jibes latching onto themes and decisions of the time. Lines Redacted mutates these ideas into something slightly more sinister whilst maintaining all of Hyndman’s razor-sharp wit that permeates the album.

Released: February 2020
Cat: MI0656
Label: Memphis Industries

Listen

Tracklist

1. Drink the Bleach
2. Blunt Instruments
3. Positivity
4. Dusting for Prints
5. Lines Redacted
6. Seven Trumpets
7. Clean Living
8. Morf
9. Hazmat Suits
10. Bots!
11. B2BCDA
12. Lines Discontinued