Review Summary: dance/punk/pop music for the age of pessimism
Music has always been a reflection of the times, but sometimes it can act as an escape from them. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, pop's maximalist streak made a compelling case for abandoning yourself to the moment; bright melodies and oversized hooks that didn't ask you to think too hard. Poptimism helped establish that taking pop seriously didn't mean taking it solemnly. The cultural mood of the 2020s feels considerably bleaker—and pop has often responded in kind, embracing subdued tempos and lyrics steeped in everyday anxieties. There's nothing inherently wrong with music that confronts the world's ugliness, but what happens when you just want to dance instead? London's duo The Itch have the answer on their debut.
Admittedly, the question at hand isn't a novel one, but where most acts resort to hedonism,
It's The Hope That Kills You welcomes the uncomfortable knowledge that the world is bleaker than ever. The record is driven by an exhaustion with the current state of the world, an idea stated explicitly on the opening number ("And the political climate / It’s taking a toll on my laugh lines") and one that permeates the bulk of this album. Economic frustration (‘Can't Afford This’), media-induced sensory overload (‘Switch It Off’) and the looming, inescapable reminder of mortality (‘Never Change’) all inform the record's pervasive sense of exhaustion. Those themes define the era The Itch and their listeners inhabit, yet the duo manages to find something genuinely meaningful amid the noise: the recognition that pain can bring us together. Towards the end of the record, ‘Ursula’ suggests that through all this suffering, your friends can still be a constant fixture, an echo of the opener’s statement: "But sometimes the people / Make it all worthwhile". Although ‘Space In The Cab’ urges us to embrace the fleeting nature of the present (“How come you say you’re not coming out tonight?”), the following ten tracks can’t help but stress over the frustration of living through it.
But, oh yeah, what if you want to dance instead? Where other artists would rely on modern club and dance aesthetics, The Itch draw on the unruly pleasures of indie sleaze, dance-punk and synth-pop for a potent cocktail of influences. If Harry Styles' flirtation with LCD Soundsystem left you wanting more,
It's The Hope That Kills You absolutely delivers. Early-highlight ‘No More Sprechgesang’ pokes fun at classic post-punk tropes while embracing them in a humorous, irresistible cut; its prominent cowbell and conversational delivery actively recall James Murphy’s influential work. The distorted synths and electronic pulses all over the trippy ‘Drugdealer’ are a different beast, but showcase a band who can tackle a more atmospheric number with equal aplomb. Most tracks here are uptempo, propelled by gritty synths and punchy electronic flourishes. ‘Aux Romanticiser’ and ‘Space In The Cab’ are foremost in that regard, capturing the party at full throttle, while ‘Ursula’ buries its anxieties beneath bright rhythms and ‘Can't Afford This’ punctuates its frustrations with crushing riffs. The melancholy of ‘Never Change’, with its meditation on the passage of time, is easy to gloss over when paired with its youthful drum-and-bass instrumentation.
It's The Hope That Kills You could easily crush under the weight of its own ambitions, but its incredibly consistent production quality gives its stylistic detours a common thread. The playful vocal performances help hold the whole affair together and, though the interspersed spoken verses can be slightly overbearing, they add a palpable charm and youthfulness to the songs.
It doesn’t matter how you approach this—
It's The Hope That Kills You is plenty of fun to listen to when taken at face value with its grooves that blend synth-pop and dance-punk, but also plenty of fun to dissect when taking its concept into consideration. It’s even more impressive that this is the duo’s
first full-length record; they come out of the gates with a distinct and sharp voice that reflects what many people desperately want to articulate. In an interview, band member Georgia Hardy touched upon people's recent turn towards hedonism:
"There has been a movement from the younger generations, who are, in some way, thinking, ‘Everything is fucked so let’s just turn to hedonism’. If you’ve got nothing else to live for, you may as well try and have a good time. That’s been brewing for quite a while. People are sick of being downtrodden and having to graft so hard”. It’s hard to disagree with that statement; every time you hope that the world gets better, it takes a piece of you with it. The Itch’s debut will convince you to believe in it all over again.
