ALBUM REVIEW: Submit – Soup (Avenue Recordz)
SUBMIT are the side project of Ross and Maff Farrell, who are half of Dirt Box Disco and two-fifths of Spunk Volcano and the Eruptions.
As if being in two bands wasn’t enough, last year they teamed up with their other bands’ long-term producer John Kettle, formerly of ’90s band The Tansads and now in folk-rockers Merry Hell, to form this alternative trio.
SUBMIT are not a live band, as its members have more than enough to keep busy, but they have found time to make two albums. Their self-titled debut (reviewed here) came out last year, and they’re back with this follow-up, recorded in nine days in Wigan.
Fuelled every day with fresh bread and strangely addictive soup from the bakery over the road, hence its name, it’s 10 tracks of alternative rock which reveal there’s much more to Russ than his slightly deranged Spunk Volcano persona, even if at times it’s like sitting in on a therapy session.
Like its predecessor, Soup tackles some weighty subjects; catchy opener Pot Holes In Memory Lane is about leafing through an old photo album and realising that the ‘good old days’ weren’t all they seemed. It’s as good as anything he’s ever written, and if there’s a better line in a song this year than “how many smiles does it take to make you sad?” then I haven’t heard it.
Stubbs is another fairly upbeat song which is probably as close to DBD and SV&TE as SUBMIT come, but the mood takes a downturn on the brooding Crushing Your Dreams, a slow-burner which appears to be about being crippled by self-doubt.
There’s a lot of soul-searching going on as Russ sings “find out when I wake up, which me I’ve got today” and “you’re supposed to be on my side, supposed to be a team”.
Grungy guitars power the doom-laden Cockroaches and Scorpions, while the strident That’s Unfortunate (Rave On) tackles being neuro-divergent with the admission “my brain doesn’t work in the customary fashion that it seems like everybody else does.”
Crow With A Bone is a curious little tune about being ‘the king of the things with wings’ when they find a tasty morsel. I’m sure it’s a metaphor for something, but damned if I know what. Or, knowing the way Russ’s mind works, it could just be about a bird.
Much of the album has a throwback ’90s feel, and that’s the case with My Heart Hates my Blood, which seems to ruminate on the health complaints we all suffer as we get older. We’re back in the therapist’s chair for Catastrophic Biopic, another self-analytic song which is catchier than its subject matter deserves.
There’s a note of defiance to Resilience Is Brilliant, which comes to terms with the fact that turning to booze simply fuels anxiety, rather than helping it, and we close on an upbeat note with Distress Call, which has an acoustic country feel.
Soup is a very thought-provoking album, and if the fact SUBMIT are so different to Russ/Spunk’s other bands doesn’t convince you he’s one of the best songwriters on the alternative music scene today, then nothing will. 8.5/10.
* Soup by Submit is available on CD, digital download and streaming from Avenue Recordz HERE.
