The Naughty Step is the Fourth Album by Wolfhounds legend Andrew Goldings band Dragon Welding and the first with new singer Nik Cockshott. The album was mixed and mastered with help from Ant Chapman.
The album opens with Up And Away the bands thumping dancefloor treatise for trying to deal with your unending need to go Up And Away hoping to become the soundtrack to a Slimcea advert with a great fist pumping chorus.
The Naughty Step was where I wanted to put Dragon Welding when they were the opening act at a gig a while ago, this is slow, sparsely played with an almost Marc Almond Willing Sinner torch song vocal, trying to hide the shame of what they've done.
We Dance Among You is bitter twisted reflections on why they are the ones dancing among all the living statues, drones and automaton office and phone clones, this is perfect to do a good robotic dance routine too.
Hiding Things For Fun is often part of what we do to amuse ourselves, hiding things from kids, partners, lovers, co-workers, musically this has a slow almost Richard Barbieri like, stretched synth tones with an electronica singing bell feel.
It's Not Tomorrow Forever takes some slightly off beat detuned guitars, a very basic drum pattern, which allow the vocals to hit home full of bitter regrets, hoping to find a better new day.
Start Believing Start Living The Lie say whatever you have to so you can secure that job, living the life you want too, this is catchy synth pop, that feels like it is talking the central language of the 2020's, a time when truth seems superfluous to far too many people.
Chase The Space and win the race before the tech bro's ruin it. They re-work the riff from Spirit In The Sky giving this a glam stomp electronica feel, almost ready to get a room singing along to it.
Come On Flat Earthling takes aim at anyone believing all the modern equivalents of being a Flat Earther, do some research find some truth among all the lies and deceit, go and make yourself some good luck.
We Are Following Straight Lines has an almost Gang Of Four fraught isolationism to the despair they feel, for all those people following straight lines to hell and beyond, no matter how squiggly the guitar lines are.
The album closes with Pensive Eco Ponderer slow ambient synth pop, with bitter twisted lyrics for the madness for how we have failed the planet, in failing to clean up our damaging addictions to a far too carboniferous lifestyle. They believe in science not tin pot theories.
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