Citizen 16

Mark Richardson must be fucking livid. As Feeder drummer he seemed to be on a one-man mission to re-enliven the band and to drag them kicking and screaming out of their mopey phase, primarily by hitting the skins hard enough to drown out the sounds of sweeping strings and Grant’s heartfelt vocal swells. For this the man is to be saluted. Then, as soon as he fucks off back to Skunk Anansie, they release Renegades, probably the band’s heaviest release since the Swim EP.

That’s not to say the band have gone completely back to basics. They’ve lost some of the irreverence that marked their earlier releases, specifically songs like Women In Towels. Or, more accurately, they’ve lost the intentional irreverence of that period. Renegades features some of the most disposable lyrics you’ll probably hear this year. Frankly Grant Nicholas needs to be punched square in the face for the line “if you want to hear this song, you won’t have to wait too long,” from the album’s first-single and easy contender for worst song Call Out. You’d hardly call Left Foot Right a lyrical masterpiece either… and don’t even get me started on the “sitting on the bus, sitting on the bus” chorus to City In A Rut.

Still, lyrics aside, Renegades is a really good album with the band sounding, for the first time in years, like a proper 3-piece outfit. It’s clearly an album designed for live shows, full of short, fast and easily recognisable tunes. Nothing life changing, but a quality 40 minutes of music.

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