EP REVIEW: Aerial Salad – Roi de L’Herbe (Venn Records)
Manchester punks Aerial Salad are back with their first new music in a year with this five-track EP, and it’s something of a return to their roots.
The three-piece made their name on the DIY circuit as a snotty young band who made quite a glorious racket with their debut album Roach (2017) and 2020 follow-up Dirt Mall (reviewed here).
Older and wiser, last year’s third album R.O.I. (reviewed here) saw them take a sidestep into the ’90s Madchester sound of their home city, giving a nod to the likes of Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.
Groovy times
This EP sees them retain plenty of groove, while getting back to what I reckon they do best: their very modern take on loud blaring punk rock.
It opens with King Of The Grass, which is based around a swaggering riff and throbbing bassline. Frontman Jamie reckons it’s a tribute to bassist Wimbo, who works in ground maintenance for the council.
The lyrics are enormously tongue in cheek, and it’s one of the catchiest songs they’ve written yet. It gives the EP its name when translated into French, though methinks it could also be a cheeky reference to a more ‘medicinal’ kind of grass.
Second track L.A. is the one which would have best fit on R.O.I., and it enters new territory, with the boys trying their hand at a love song. After the Oasis-like opening it fairly rattles along. And don’t worry, they haven’t gone soft; there’s plenty of vim and vigour as Jamie sings: “When I’m with you it’s so, so real!”
Inject Your Blood is another love song, and again it’s an uptempo number, with Jamie singing “Nothing is forever, but forever is what we had….time takes my soul away. You bring me home again.”
Wires, powered by another wonderful bassline, slows things down a bit and has a really grungy feel to it. Raging against the world of AI and Chat GPT, Jamie really lets rip as the song approaches its climax.
The EP comes to a rousing climax with My Girl, a straight-up blast of adrenalized punk rock which sees Aerial Salad doing what they do best.
It’s a rollocking end to a fine record; the whole thing is over inside 15 minutes and hopefully paves the way for what to expect from album number four.
- Roi De l’Herbe is available digitally or as a limited edition (250 copies) 12in clear vinyl with green splatter from Aerial Salad’s Bandcamp page HERE.
