W.H. Lung – Every Inch of Earth Pulsates
Manchester's best-kept secret, W.H. Lung, deliver a visceral, urgent third album in Every Inch of Earth Pulsates
The name of this band involves a reference only Manchester natives would understand and, after their second album, that seemed increasingly apt. W.H. Lung are the best, if probably only, band in Britain to be named after a cash and carry supermarket, but while that nod has been well-received in their hometown, as have their incendiary live shows, they’ve yet to find a wider audience nationally. That surely changes with the intense, visceral Every Inch of Earth Pulsates, a record that redraws the five-piece’s sonic parameters whilst also, finally, successfully channeling the searing energy they’re known for onstage.
Ross Orton is behind the desk, and his influence in cutting away the superfluousness of past Lung albums helps explain why he’s been called Sheffield’s Steve Albini. The band still giddily slalom through different styles – there’s melodic indie-rock on Thinner Wine and Flowers In the Rain, gleaming synthpop in the shape of Bloom and Fade and I Can’t Lie, and stormy closer I Will Set Fire to the House is an exercise in atmospheric post-punk. What sets Every Inch of Earth Pulsates apart from its predecessors, though, is the sheer urgency of the piece; it crackles with a nervous energy that will surely propel them to new heights.
Listen to: Bliss Bliss, I Can’t Lie, I Will Set Fire to the House