It's been nine years since the British band Skunk Anansie released their last album. After an EP around four weeks ago, the musicians around the charismatic singer Skin are now delivering the long player - if just 38 minutes justify this name.
The stunt is somewhat peculiar: on 30 April, four songs with 14:59 minutes. Now another six and almost 25 minutes more music. The pre-release could actually have been done without - if the coffers weren't too empty. So be it.
Because what really counts is the music. Skunk Anansie's music has always been a little different. Pop, rock, metal. Hard riffs, high tempo, playful synthesisers, sometimes sensitive, sometimes powerful vocals. All this and much more can be found on each of the albums, which makes it difficult to categorise them. Fortunately. Because what would we have otherwise?
Skunk Anansie remain an over-egg of the genre mix. No-one can be sure which twist is lurking at the next bar. Only that it will be good is almost guaranteed in advance.
The fact that the album begins with the song that closes the EP is an interesting decision: An Artist is an Artist is a fast-paced number that marches through your ears in good punk-pop style. So far, so fun. It gets interesting when Skin starts the chorus, because ‘An artist is an artist’ sometimes sounds more like ‘An artist is a narcissist’ or the other way round: ‘A narcissist is an artist’. It's a shame that the album doesn't come with a booklet of lyrics. At least Genius Lyrics documents the line ‘ “cos the narcissist in artist / is beautiful”.
A gift. The Painful Truth also offers enough to think about and enjoy. There is Shame, for example, a quiet number with a poetic note. Cheers flows through the airwaves as a lively rock number and is followed - there it is again, the over-egg - by the reggae-inspired number Shoulda Been You (which of course changes into a rock chorus).
Animals, which opens the EP, is placed here at number 7 and is a number to savour. This is Skunk Anansie at their best, dynamic, groovy, intense and with clever lyrics to boot. The following Fall In Love then breaks new ground and contrasts with the usual Skunk Anansie feel. A very smooth piece, almost pure pop, if it weren't for the hard and swinging rhythms. Very cool.
The album is recorded very plainly. Few effects beyond the actual instruments distract from the core of the music and its impact. A pure album, similarly reduced and to the point as the cover. Which is not to say that it has any sonic shortcomings. This is by no means the case. Solid bass, biting guitar riffs, Skins' voice between twittering and discharging energy. The stage is intimate and tangible, suitable for a club.
If you like rock with a twist, you should listen to The Painful Truth. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)
Skunk Anansie