Breakfast Muff – Eurgh!

Known for loud, energetic sets where members switch between guitar, bass and drums, this is a band that really respects the tenants of punk. Hard-edged vocals and clanging drums combine in short, up-tempo tracks, bolstered by an insolent attitude and infinite energy. Alternately soft and screechy, Eurgh! delivers up a cacophony of noise which explores real issues like sexuality and feminism with matter-of-fact honesty over the course of ten songs.

As a band that has gigged relentlessly since their inception in 2014, playing support slots for the likes of Colleen Green and Diet Cig, and cramming in over forty shows in one year, it's clear that live performances have been integral in the cultivation of their sound. With that in mind, Eurgh! is recorded so as to encapsulate the spontaneity and energy of playing live, with vocals being recorded so that lead singers are up close to the microphone while supporting vocalists are recorded further back, mimicking the sound levels at a concert. 

Maybe (okay, certainly) not to everyone’s taste, Breakfast Muff are as uncompromising here as on previous records like 2015's Rainbow Yawn. Even if you spend most of the record wondering what, exactly, a ‘breakfast muff’ is, you’d have to admit that Eurgh! is an ambitious, admirable album. Despite not offering up anything especially musically complex (not surprising given that it only took four days to put together) it brings a whole lot of attitude along with it. Topics like false feminism are openly critiqued on stand-out track R U A Feminist, coming as a much-needed revolt against the hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness of modern society.

Fittingly, 'Eurgh!' can be an interjection of both disgust and passion, summing up the polarised reactions that this punky, spunky album is sure to generate.

Listen to: Lunch Money, R U A Feminist, Raspberry Pavlova