The strange brilliance of Swedish post-punks Viagra Boys continues to shine and mutate across each release. Their now one-year-old latest effort 'Welfare Jazz', proves to be an outstandingly bizarre listen oozing with warped humour and pure immature fun.
Having been known for tracks off of their debut 'Street Worms' (2018), with twisted ballads like 'Sports' and 'Worms', the off-kilter personas and sludgy instrumentation of the band burn into one's memory. Going further back, 2016's underrated 'Consistency of Energy' EP, displayed the band's early potential.
And it all builds to the epic tale of romance on 'Welfare Jazz', which sees the almost David Lynch narrative of an unstable chauvinist come to terms with love and ultimately settle down in the country with his sweetheart.
The album opens with the fiercely confrontational 'Ain't Nice', and closes with an endearing John Prine cover featuring Melbourne's Amy Taylor.
The album has all the trademarks of a VB project but displays a compelling arc which conceptionally rounds off the sound of their 5-year spree of madness.
'Welfare Jazz' remains a great post-punk listen one year on, and is still highly recommended for all.
Available now in 'the Store'