Album review: Baby Strange – World Below

The worldview of Baby Strange is a grim one, lit by burning neon signs which advertise clubs that are dead to streets that are empty. It may sound familiar to anyone who has witnessed the lasting damage the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted on independent venues. Rather than get morose on World Below, Baby Strange throw a post-punk dance party that reflects the shellshock of our new normal.

On Beating In Time and 0141, the Glaswegian trio channel the fury of Gang Of Four. The nervy interplay between brothers Aidan (bass) and Connaire McCann (drums) underpins Johnny Madden’s guitar playing, metallic and unpredictable as pennies in a washing machine. Elsewhere the title-track takes a slow burning gothic groove on a tour of decaying streets. ‘You got kicked out of art school, you’re gonna make it big,’ guitarist Johnny Madden intones blankly, ‘When I saw you, you were shovelling the shit.’

Yet there is also a subversive energy in the sloganeering choruses here that recall anarchic ravers The KLF, who famously terrorised the stuffy 1992 BRIT Awards by performing with Extreme Noise Terror. These unexpected – and above all, catchy – moments show Baby Strange’s abilities to not merely rankle against mediocrity, but give their punk formula a kick up the arse, too.

Not all of World Below lives up to this early promise. You can find songs like Poor Old Me – wonky guitar, jaded sarcasm – filling out landfill indie releases from the ’00s. However, late highlight Midnight twists heads with grinding industrial rhythms. Imagine Ministry's Al Jourgensen downing a bottle of Buckfast and you’d be close, the relentless, pounding beats giving Johnny’s guitar stabs a steely edge as he wails, ‘We’re always waiting around in this fucking town.’

Call them bleak, but don’t call them complacent. Baby Strange are twisting their punk roots into something altogether more vital and strange – watch for what happens next.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Strange Bones, IDLES, Gang Of Four

World Below is out now via Icons Creating Evil Art