Brutalism by IDLES
Brutalism is the first album by Bristol band Idles, released in March 2017. Background and recording The band started recording the album in 2015. Singer Joseph Talbot's mother (who is pictured on the album cover along with a sculpture by Talbot and his father) died during the recording of the album after a long illness, and his time caring for her, and her death, had a major impact on the album, with Talbot later stating "She was that album. That's why she was on the cover." Talbot added lyrics after the music had been written by the rest of the band. He stated the songs on the album are "to do with the roles of women in my life. It's also to do with the role my mum played pre and postmortem and also about progression and grief as a theme and eventual rebuilding". The band recorded the album largely live in the studio, with each song recorded three times at most in order to keep a raw and urgent feel to them. It was produced by Space. "Stendhal Syndrome", which ironically mocked lowbrow art critics, was made available for download before the album's release, as were three tracks from the album that were later released as physical singles; "Mother", which dealt with "impotent male rage" and Talbot's feminism, "Divide & Conquer", about the state of the NHS, and "Well Done", which dealt with the class system. A limited edition of 100 LPs were released in October 2017 with Talbot's mother's ashes pressed into the vinyl.
