The Wildhearts were never backwards in coming forwards, and their latest album - arguably their most cohesive and complete yet – is, according to the band’s only real mainstay, Ginger, a journey through the troughs of pessimism and self-doubt to the sunny uplands of hope and optimism. That’s paraphrasing, but you get the picture: he’s looking up, not down.
It might be a new Wildhearts – and they’re up there with The Fall when it comes to the number of members who’ve been through the door – but the vibrancy that made ’93 debut Earth Vs The Wildhearts such a welcome surprise or 2019’s Renaissance Men a latter-day delight remains: unrelenting bombast, pop notes, visceral rage. Although, as Ginger says, he’s been on a journey, and this record ultimately skews towards the positive. Case in point: lead single Failure Is The Mother Of Success ends with the mellifluous refrain: ‘You took a lot of knocks to get where you are today’, and you know he’s talking as much to himself as he is to his audience. Self-affirmation and reaffirmation, this isn’t a solitary journey he’s taking; everyone’s welcome, nay encouraged, to come along on the ride.
