‘Beat, Perpetual’ opens the record with the roar of pumping guitars riffs, a signature hallmark of a Martha track which rears its glorious head multiple times over the 35-minute set. The titular track, ‘Please Don’t Take Me Back’, is littered with juxtapositions: yearnings of a desire to “take me back to the old days” rub shoulders with a glum defeatism of how bad these old days were, while the rise and fall of the electric amped-up refrain of ‘Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?’ elevates lyrical simplicity to utter musical euphoria. Track tumbles seamlessly into track, an energetic release of stifled creativity off the back of three long and rather repressive years – it is not until the gentle melodic twinkle of a piano interlude in “Take Me Back to The Old Days (Reprise) that we get a moment to pause and reflect before a mellower three-track encore. Closing the record, the almost whimsical ‘You Can’t Have a Good Time All of the Time’ displays controlled restraint – another subdued track to round off the charged energy of those which precede it.
Deeply political sentiments again cloak themselves in sprightly melodies
From ACAB spray painted on the walls on 2016’s ‘Curly and Raquel’ to the “funeral parlour” of present-day England in ‘Hope Gets Harder’, Martha’s riotous commentary on political issues remains expressive as ever. Deeply political sentiments again cloak themselves in sprightly melodies as the four-piece dive headfirst into steadfast anarchism against the cultural, political, and economic shit-show we continue to suffer. Fundamentally northern and working-class, Please Don’t Take Me Back is an ode to everything that Martha stand for. "Fuck this place, I hate it" too.
Light your candles, burn your flags and fuck the Tories
On Please Don’t Take Me Back, Martha may not stray too far from stylistic familiarity. Catchy lyrical hooks and the prevailing melodrama of blasting guitars have been Martha mainstays from the very beginning, yet this is by far the most refined material they have produced to date – their signature DIY production style appears more polished and mature than ever. You may not be able to have a good time all of the time, as Martha make clear, but this album may just be the best time I’ve had for a while. It is rare an album has no standouts, but this record is standout in itself, a complete masterpiece start to finish. Light your candles, burn your flags, and fuck the Tories.
5/5
