Not that they ever really went away, but Asylums are most definitely back with a bang, just two years after the Steve Albini-recorded third album Genetic Cabaret with ‘Understand The Psychology’, the third corking single from their forthcoming long-players Signs of Life.
As was apparent from the previous two, ‘Crypto Klepto’ and ‘Scatterbain’, Asylums have very much still got the fire which fuelled them way back when they started, and that Adrenaline-pumping energy that was all over their debut album, Kille Brain Waves back in 2016. What’s more, they’re still driven by the same antipathy and antagonism toward consumerism and capitalism, mass media and mass consumption, and the way in which streaming TV is the opium of the people.
What makes Asylums special is that they’re punky and pissed off but without being shouty or preachy or resorting to crass sloganeering, and they’re also poppy without being twee or lightweight.
Dave Eringa, renowned for his work with the Manics and who did some work on the mixing of Genetic Cabaret was at the helm on production for this one, and he’s brought out the balance of driving guitars and buoyant melody on ‘Understand The Psychology’, a song that’s at once vaguely melancholic and wistful, tinged with nostalgia, and yet inspiring and uplifting.
