Label: Exact Truth
Released: 12th March 2021
If Do Nothing are half as apathetic as their name suggests, then ‘Glueland’ — their second EP in the past 12 months — shows no signs of it. This is far from your dime-a-dozen post-punk EP, sharing far more in spirit with the eclectic origins of the genre than their often resolutely riff-centric peer group. Noted childhood friends, the gang of four from Nottingham are, in fact, doing quite a lot.
That means funky basslines, half-sung/half-spoken vocals, and, admittedly, plenty of rough-and-ready riffs. Lead singer Chris Bailey has all the nonchalant charisma you’d expect from this sort of outfit, but there’s no pretence there. On ‘Rolex’ he sings about getting poked in the eye with a laidback vigour, lingering on melodic moments of melancholy as much as the cool I-don’t-care spoken word portions.
The clear highlights are the first two singles — the chugging ‘Glueland’ and the “one big reach-around” of ‘Uber Alles’, but this is a well-assembled EP. A lot of that falls to guitarist Kasper Sandstrom, who does great work in matching the volatile energy of Bailey, whether in the jagged plucks of ‘Knives’ or the distorted strut of ‘Great White Way’ — a tricky prospect given Bailey’s chaotic presence.
It’s to the full band’s credit that ‘Glueland EP’ reflects the current status quo without overtly referencing lockdown; take notes, Iceage. The title-track refers pretty explicitly to being stuck in a holding pattern, but in the contrast between the sombre and the absurd (“I’m going round in circles like a little baby eel”), it captures the ridiculousness of a life spent inside. Doesn’t hurt that the whole thing bangs, too.
