It’s become increasingly clear to everyone why Mouth Culture have been absolutely everywhere in the past year. From supporting The Blackout and While She Sleeps, up to sets at Download and 2000 Trees, they’re channelling a zeitgeist of pulling through the mire of nonsense we’re all stuck in and shredding like absolute bosses along the way. ‘Whatever The Weather’, the Leicester three-piece’s latest EP, blends gentle hope with a bold, banging assertion that maybe sticking together is what matters.
‘Dead in Love’ has to be considered the standout track, and a natural lead single. Equal parts charming declaration and shout along gang vocal chant, it’s got the kind of surging chorus and roaring guitar in an early Fall Out Boy mould that capture the airwaves. The idea that it’s the power of human connection which is the force which lets us overcome hardship dominates the rest of the EP, and it feels welcome. “Grey days don’t feel so strange,” sings Voss on ‘Little Wednesday’, a song which sadly has little to do with the titular spooky Netflix heroine but instead has lot to share about extending a helping hand to your friends.
‘Happier’ moves slower, but with a mix of crashing guitars and an open-sky dreaminess, you can almost taste former tour mates Teenage Wrist’s influence. It’s the gentle ‘Everyday’ which holds the most potential for Mouth Culture’s future. It’s a song that you can float in, with a lovely roar on the chorus and the mildest strings to provide a buffer to the exiled, lonely sentiment.
“It doesn’t matter what you do or say, we’re all gonna die anyway,” wails Mouth Culture’s Jack Voss on ‘Dead In Love’, a line that sums up ‘Whatever The Weather’ to a tee. It isn’t all doom and gloom, though, by any means. They’ve taken the annoyance of realising that life sometimes feels like being stuck in a hamster wheel and turned it into the kind of tunes that makes us realise that we’re all in it together. Call it solidarity in post capitalist nihilism, if you want, but it’s far more danceable than that, and this EP serves as a herald for even more exciting sets to come.
KATE ALLVEY