Tangk is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Idles, released on 16 February 2024 through Partisan Records. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats and the Idles member Mark Bowen.[1] It was promoted with the singles "Dancer", "Grace" and "Gift Horse", and received acclaim from critics.
The vocalist, Joe Talbot, said that he "needed love" so he "made it. [He] gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love."[1] Talbot said that he wanted to "make people dance" and "feel the love that [he] need[s] in life", as well as wanting to make the music "infectious in a way that makes people feel, not think" and be "part of something electric again".[3] It was named Tangk, a onomatopoeiac word coined to describe "the lashing way the band imagined the guitars sounding, that has grown into a sigil for living in love".[4]
Tangk was Idles' first work with a major producer, Nigel Godrich, who is known for his work with Radiohead. The band members saw Godrich as among "the upper echelon" and had assumed they would never be able to create something of his calibre. However, Bowen said: "What we learned is that it's not that difficult to attain if you put work into it. We learned that there are no geniuses."[5] Bowen said Godrich taught him how to use tape loops, distortion and delay in new ways to create textures.[5]James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem contributed additional vocals on "Dancer".[6]
Release
The album was announced following the band's surprise show at the Village Underground in London on 17 October 2023.[7] It was promoted with the singles "Dancer",[3] "Grace"[8] and "Gift Horse".[9] The Tangk world tour started on 29 February 2024 in Porto, and will end on 7 December 2024 at the O2 Apollo Manchester, England.[10]
Tangk has a score of 78 out of 100 on the review aggregator Metacritic, based on 25 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[11]Uncut stated that "Tangk is more about diverse, swooning sonic details that support troubled singer Joe Talbot's redemption",[19] while Classic Rock felt that "despite its subject matter, the Bristol tykes are still sonically and vocally as visceral as ever".[13]Mojo's Andrew Perry concluded that the album is "still hardly for the faint-hearted pop-picker, but it categorically repositions its makers as contenders in the biggest arena, as tuneful, approachable geezers capable of love, and sharing it with the world".[14]
Jamie Wilde of The Skinny summarised the album as "a raucous expression of love" as well as "raw, vulnerable and inimitably Idles".[17]Record Collector's Elizabeth Aubrey wrote that Tangk "may bring us a more compassionate, empathetic version of the band who seem to be trying to find something that resembles peace after years of tumult" but that "they still haven't quite lost their punk spirit".[16]
Nick Seip of Slant Magazine stated that "those familiar with Idles's past work may be surprised to find much of their characteristic righteous anger missing here" and their "slower songs struggle to command such attention" but "on a technical level, Tangk underpins its more personal and emotional lyrics with rich, layered arrangements".[18]Pitchfork's Arielle Gordon wrote that "Idles seem poised to let down their ironclad armor and reveal a far more interesting and nuanced band, just as soon as Talbot is ready to relinquish his stubborn and self-defeating grasp".[15]
