Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs

The Guardian 80

(Rough Trade)
Inspired guest turns add a twist, but the duo’s blazing invention and lacerating lyrics remain the main draw

In the Christian folk tale, Eve was fashioned from Adam’s superfluous rib. Sleaford Mods think we’re all spare ribs: canon fodder, expendable in the eyes of a government that responded too weakly, too late, to the pandemic. The ruling class, Jason Williamson suggests, perennially sacrifice the powerless to feed GDP.

If that’s the cheery take-home at the heart of Sleaford Mods’ sixth album, the east Midlands duo remain a joyous tonic, all funny, burbling noises, word association and banging tunes. Andrew Fearn’s deathlessly inventive compositions stare you down, defying you to find them simplistic – the title track’s turbo-charged electro, and the pointillist electronics of Top Room, are just two cases in point.

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