‘Idiot Thing’ by Aathens (Single)

Aathens: sound as though they’re in a rush on Idiot Thing

Formed amidst the dying embers of a febrile DIY scene, this youthful post-punk meets post-hardcore quartet refuse to be squashed

London post-punk quartet Aathens sound as though they’re in a rush on Idiot Thing. This may have something to do with the band forming just as the DIY hub Powerlunches became yet another music venue to be swallowed-up by 2016’s murderous regard for creative hotspots.

After starting with a melody that’s somewhere between DIVV’s spacious dream-pop and Farquet’s claustrophobic post-hardcore, Patrick Browne’s vocals clinically grab your attention. They’re edgy, laconic, insouciant and are ripped with a delivery that recalls the stoic style of Mark E Smith. As the bass takes hold the track melts into a brutish fusion of Joy Division and Television, all angular melodies and pounding rhythms.

Next month (14 October) Aathens release their EP-length performance film TVEP. If Idiot Thing is anything to go by then it will confirm that, even as the venues in which creativity and subversion merge are strangled, their life force lives on.

Verdict: Throbbing and angular post-punk

Damien Girling

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