Relationship Studies: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Adulkt Life (Ex-Male Bonding, Ex-Huggy Bear)

Featuring Kevin Hendrick and John Arthur Webb, late of Male Bonding, Sonny Barrett, and Chris Rowley (ex-Huggy Bear), Adulkt Life make music that sounds little like those bands. The group's second album, There is No Desire, is out now. It's full of sounds that owe huge debts to the first wave of post-punk bands in the United Kingdom, though there are plenty of original flavors here.

"Relationship Studies" opens things with more than a hint of Joy Division, while the rough "Liberation Tags" surges wtih power. This one is a bit Big Black, but the guitars are not as distinct in the mix as the overall wash of noise and vocals. "Blackout" throbs with menace, a neat expansion of the sounds found of this lot's debut some three years ago. Adulkt Life are drawing from some familiar sources for their material, but there's cleverness in the execution, and a good deal of vigor.

Adulkt Life are at their best when they inject a good deal of riff-age into this retro-inspired material. On "4:33" things neatly surge around a hook that would have appealed to The Jesus and Mary Chain circa Automatic. One can trace the influences here, of course, but the whole record sort of pulses with life. Maybe we've heard this all before, and maybe it doesn't even matter. But There is No Desire more or less works. Dark alt-rock of the sort that a label like Mute would have snatched up in an earlier age, the music of Adulkt Life proves that this sort of thing still compels here in 2023.

There is No Desire by Adulkt Life is out now. Details below.

[Photo: Adulkt Life Bandcamp]