Review:'Edible, Matt and the Obtuse Angels' 'Idiot'
- Genre: 'Indie'
- Release Date: '1st April 2024'
Our Rating:
Perhaps it’s because of generally bleak, grim state of the world right now, or perhaps it’s because it fell on a bank holiday and people had time on their hands, but this year’s April fools have seemingly been more prevalent than usual, although most that I’ve seen have been predictable and lame plugs for bogus new releases and the like (it’s been a laugh a minute in Sisters of Mercy groups where the band’s new album was announced – that one never gets tired, even after 34 years, and no doubt Stewart Home always has a big old chuckle at all the ‘Happy Birthday’ comments he receives on Facebook on this day each year).
The announcement of this release stands out by virtue of being genuine, and if releasing a single on a bank holiday Monday seems like an odd choice, it’s being April 1st is relevant, as Matt explains that ‘Idiot’, the second single from Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels’ forthcoming album ‘The Optometrist’ is ‘an anthem for phoney culture war influencers and fake news pseudo-prophets everywhere.’
Hull native Matt has been knocking around for a fair few years now, and first came to my attention fronting the mighty Holy Orders, championed by Tom Robinson – and here at W&H.
With the Obtuse Angels, he’s gone for quite a different approach, and, in the main, a style that’s more commercial and pop-infused, but that isn’t to say there’s no edge to their material: with ‘Idiot’, which he suggests invites comparisons to the ‘tongue in cheek lyrical commentary of Yard Act crossed with the bubblegum singalongs of The Lovely Eggs’ he also makes mention of ‘of snarling Jon Spencer guitar thrown in for good measure’.
The stomping percussion is reminiscent of Adam and the Ants and continues the glammy path paved by previous single ‘Mirror Shoes’ and sees Matt adopt the first-person position of a typical gobshite gammon who swallows shit perpetuated by The Sun and GB news, taking down the way in which the ill-informed and plain stupid tend to shout loudest when it comes to sharing their ‘opinions’.
If it sounds like he’s going for easy targets, the sad fact is these cretins are everywhere – all over social media, making podcasts and being interviewed on the news, and sitting spouting bollocks down your local – and if you think the polls which show the Tories are on course for absolute decimation in the general election – whenever that may actually be – is good news, consider the fact that many are defecting because they don’t consider the Conservatives to be as far to the right as they’d like. Let that sink in – and let this be the soundtrack while it does.
