The Bug Club is an indie rock duo from Caldicot, Gwent, United Kingdom consisting of guitarist/vocaliat Sam Willmett & bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris. Emerging earlier in the decade off 3 EPs & a couple full-lengths, they would go on to sign with Sub Pop Records last summer for their previous LP On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System becoming widely received for it’s additional influences of garage rock along with post-punk revival & slacker rock. It’s been over 9 months since they made their debut for the label & are back in time for summer on their 4th album.

“Full Grown Man” picks up on the garage rock vibes singing about not knowing how to live alone whereas “Twirling in the Middle” incorporates more raw, energetic, simply employed, sloppy & fuzzbox-distorted guitars to do the rocksteady. “Jealous Boy” was a great lead single choice addressing expectations & comparisons with a loud-quiet-loud garage rock structure to it leading into while the vividly post-punk “Young Reader” suggests you don’t have to live like this since it’s a matter of principle.

Sam & Tilly experiment with glam rock during “Beep Boop Computers” singing about interpersonal relationships & experiences just before the title track subtitled “Muck” combining some of the folkier spoken word elements of Rare Birds: Hour of Song so they can concentrate deeply on one’s place in the world today. “When the Little Choo Choo Train Toots His Little Horn” pleads to be dunked in the water again due to them still feeling like monsters while the 2nd single “How to Be a Confidante” teaches everyone what they gotta do to become a close friend.

“Living in the Future” heads back to the garage taking pride in themselves for being overly focused on what might happen down the line instead of the current moment, but then “Tales of a Visionary Teller” refuses to show the taste of bitter practice offending their inner senses under any condition. “The Sound of Communism” aesthetically has an admirable Paul McCartney flare to it having fun with no regrets until “Blame Me” admits to them not believing in social consciousness with some catchy guitar melodies.

The 3rd & final single “Appropriate Emotions” manages to pull the suitable moods for a homosapien to feel in situations like the one they’re in as we speak sounding completely removed from the human experience as they possibly could’ve & despite “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales?” not being included, I still wanted to give it some props for being a joyous new ode to The Bug Club’s beloved home country chock full of regionally referential songwriting.

Presenting themselves as a collective mind even with only 2 members remaining, the band’s Sub Pop sophomore effort expands on the experimental tones of their 1st offering for the label getting more layered & complex than they did almost a year ago. Steve & Tilly create more of a pastoral atmosphere with the raw indie rock, post-punk, garage rock, slacker rock & occasional glam rock production, amplifying the storytelling through the songwriting looking closer at the smaller things in life & delving deeper into the creativity they’ve connected themselves to almost a decade after forming.

Score: 4/5

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