Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort to Me
Amyl and the Sniffers' new album retains a fiery core, but it also reveals a more pensive and reflective side to the band
Everyone’s favourite mullet-adorned mad squad, Amyl and the Sniffers are back with their sophomore album, Comfort to Me. Their self-titled 2019 LP shot the band onto the world scene with their relentless energy, and though their newest body of work retains a fiery core, it also reveals a more pensive and reflective side to the band.
“The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered,” says the band’s charismatic frontwoman Amy Taylor on the album; Taylor found herself “drowned in introspection” during much of lockdown. Her lyrics, which draw on rap phrasing throughout, are unapologetically vulnerable. Tracks like Security and Freaks to the Front brim with a punk-loving aura, while No More Tears channels The Stooges’ effortless guitar cool. Knifey, however, marks a shift in tone. It pleads for simple pleasures and for a sense of normality that’s unexpectedly tender, but never incoherent.
In essence, creating this album has been cathartic for Amyl and the Sniffers. During a live show-decimating pandemic, it’s been their form of comfort. Yes, it will still be more than worthy of providing a riotous sonic backdrop for Taylor’s on-stage shadowboxing when the time comes. But who said comfort couldn’t be chaotic too?
Listen to: Knifey, No More Tears, Guided by Angels