Album #268: Working Men’s Club – Working Men’s Club

• Released: 2020
• Origin: Manchester, England
• Label: Heavenly
• Best Track: Be My Guest

I’ve heard some good things about this new post-punk-cum-electronic debut from Manchester band Working Men’s Club.

I’ve no idea who, but I’m sure there’s a music critic quoted as saying you need to listen to an album 13 times before judging it. That number seems excessive, and a bit arbitrary, but I’ve certainly had a bit of a ride with this one. On my first couple of listens, I thought it was promising, on my third I decided I wasn’t feeling it, but then something clicked on my fourth, and by my fifth and sixth, it had won me over.

Perhaps it just wasn’t quite what I expected. I imagined it to be an edgy and politically charged album, but it isn’t really. It’s rough, danceable and ’80s-like.

The grinding rhythm of ‘Be My Guest’ probably takes my fancy the most, and there are two great tracks to end with in the menacing ‘Teeth’ and the twelve-minute tumult of ‘Angel’.

Not the easiest record to get into, but rewarding once you do.