ALBUM REVIEW: LIFE - ABSTRACT/NATURAL

Our Hull-hailing Alternative favourite LIFE is back with a fresh experimental palette! Their highly anticipated June release of ‘ABSTRACT/NATURAL’ kicks off our summer with a banging start, incorporating their trademark Post-Punk boldness with an expansive taste of Folk influence - all eloquently expressed through frontman Metz Sanders-Green’s vivid vocal delivery. 

Carrying a similar musical intensity to that of early Shame, LIFE’s poetic meditations provide an emotionally propulsive cadence driven by their unique absorption for the natural landscape, decorated throughout the album itself. With their new album, LIFE strives to embrace the more experimental conventions of Art-Rock, straying away from their previous, rigidly Post-Punk records and transforming ‘ABSTRACT/NATURAL’ into a socially-charged statement of contemplation that is as much adventurous as it is intellectually engaging. 

Leading single ‘The Dollywaggon’ stars exhilarating and immersive lyricism married with feverish guitars, restless hooks, and a melodic urgency that is sure to provide a gloriously cathartic sense of reflection to all of those who have the privilege of experiencing this track. Composed during Green’s 193 mile coast-to-coast walk across Northern England, ‘The Dollywaggon’ encapsulates the physical exertion of the hike itself, throwing us into an emotionally intense sonic landscape that is brilliantly portrayed in all of its fierceness. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CM4pN8UG4o

With their next UK headline tour kickstarting in Newcastle this October, the confident reinvention of the outfit’s sound isn’t one to miss. Their four-date tour carries the compelling sounds of ‘ABSTRACT/NATURAL’ across Newcastle, Lincoln, London, and Leeds - giving us the delightful opportunity to embark on the band’s new evolutionary chapter alongside them!