The Muscle Club
‘Fragmented Ideas From Young Lungs’
(Smalltown)

If Pete Doherty still made music that mattered – stuff like the Libertines debut – it might sound something like this debut mini-album. Because although The Muscle Club and Doherty are, really, worlds apart, there’s something in the dual vocals of Michael Bateson-Hill and Matthew Hitt that conjures up the same reckless spirit alongside a very English charm. Yet these guys are inspired as much by postpunk/ hardcore acts like Fugazi and At The Drive-In as they are by the likes of The Smiths and The Clash. It means that songs like ‘I’ve Never Read Anything’ and ‘Alright! Okay! You Win!’ jangle and fizzle with self-doubt and self-pity while simultaneously bursting with youthful exuberance and energy. Intelligent, visceral
and far from fragmented.

Mischa Pearlman