‘I say I wanna do it again, But what life is now, Is not what life was then, Not better, not worse, just different’ (Fun Is Always Brilliant)

Dog Chocolate return with their fourth album, So Inspired, So Done In, their first since 2018’s Moody Balloon Baby.  Sinewy guitar and a spryly fluid rhythm section remain at the heart of their frantically anxious post-punk.  They are intertwined with a raggedly off-kilter art punk instinct that in turn wrestles with a more strident, constantly simmering noise rock discordance.  At first glance, these latter two influences might seem unlikely bedfellows, yet their mutual inclination towards the abrasive provides a fruitful common ground.

The nasally agitated vocals, with plenty of drawled detached backing, wryly meditate on both the mundane and the absurd that shape our daily lives, covering everything from unfortunate rashes to unfinished tattoos.  The evolving role of work emerges as a recurring theme and not least how society increasingly seeks to disguise insecurity and precariousness as flexibility and opportunity.

So Inspired, So Done In revels in its contrasts.  Playful yet tense. Whimsical yet serious.  Restless yet contemplative.  As it roves from the rhythmic tirade of Employee to the tautly writhing Springfield Library Haunting , before exploring the dissonant electronics of No Pavement Story and the sombre, richly layered Worst Jobs In History, it proves an album of jarring, restless invention.