Natural
Thirty years and 26 albums into their career, the Mekons show signs of actually *slowing down* on *Natural*, which, true to its name, is the band’s most organic collection to date. As a punk group who never adhered to the genre’s tight stylistic requirements, the Mekons were always searching the countryside for ways to subvert their attack and with *Natural* they’ve brought the countryside into the studio. Acoustic instruments, sing-a-long jamborees, all that’s missing is the sound of a cracklin’ fire for this foray into authentic alt.country. In the past (1985’s *Fear and Whiskey*, 1987’s *Honky Tonkin’*), they deliberately mangled country music with a spiky irreverence and a ton of electricity. But here with tracks such as the jubilant “Diamonds,” the achingly desolate “The Hope and the Anchor” and the shuffling and scruffy “Give Me Wine or Money,” the group captures an unusual intimacy that relies on the vocalists sharing the mic and letting themselves get lost in spirit of the moment. It adds a new dimension to a group, which is saying something 30 years on.
The Leeds collective circles the wagons once again, only this time it's the prospect of post-apocalyptic defeat that looms in the darkness.
The first song on the latest Mekons album is called "Dark Dark Dark," and truth in advertising gets no more direct. The Leeds-originated band, whose membership is spread out around the U.S. and Europe, is at its most subdued and simmering here, with relatively little of the anthemic moxie it's normally so good at.…
Discover Natural by The Mekons released in 2007. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
It's been five years since the Mekons' last album of new material, the grand scale, countrified OOOH!.