Sleaford Mods – Sleaford Mods EP

Sleaford Mods aren't a band to rest on the laurels of a handful of well-received albums (they're active daily on social media and seem to be touring constantly), especially as the bleak social climate that gave their music its muse and resonance continues to barrel toward seemingly inevitable doom. Do Sleaford Mods have the balm to soothe our woes in these trying times? Some words of comfort and hope for the anxious and forlorn? Not quite.

This self-titled EP arrives eighteen months after the fabulous English Tapas and is another bite-sized chunk of bile to tide fans over before the next full serving. The tone is typically caustic, and while there's a bit more variation in the instrumentation than usual it's still very much what you'd expect from Sleaford Mods at this point.

Stick in a Five and Go is a barnstorming first track – and the EP's best – in its hilarious take on the Twitter-fuelled revenge story. With an electronic motorik beat and a slinky bassline the song follows Jason Williamson up the M1, dressed as a postie, to try and entice 'some idiot I don't know from Leeds' out for an altercation. It's the most ridiculous moment of the record, but becomes darker as the repeated refrain of 'sign for it, mate' stops being liltingly comedic and becomes more forceful and sneering; a physical entreaty to take responsibility for one's actions.

Elsewhere, the seething resentment that has inspired some of the duo's finest songs (and their astonishingly good live performances) bubbles over into violent fantasy; 'Sometimes I just wanna bang someone out,' barks Williamson on the second track, Bang Someone Out. Then there's the frankly bizarre threat that appears in Joke Shop: 'I'll buy anything / Itching powder – throw it in the ether / Cover everything.' Once again, the farcical gives way to the macabre as the imagery starts to bring the recent spate of acid attacks to mind.

Like all great Mods music there are plenty of moments of levity, like the travel agents in their 'really bright-coloured tops,' but when you're ending songs on a pessimistic chant of 'you are / Two eyes / No vision,' it's clear that you've got real gripes with the world around you. Sleaford Mods still have plenty of important things to say, regardless of how they might sugarcoat the message.

Listen to: Stick in a Five and Go