Description

Allying strong words and minimal electronics, Sleaford Mods second proper album or sixth if you go back through the early CDR efforts, the selfreleased Divide And Exit, was not only Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamsons most effective artistic expression to that point, it also truly captured the taste of a land souring by the day.Fully remastered and reissued through Rough Trade Records to mark the records tenth anniversary.This reissue offers a chance to fully appreciate a band hitting their artistic stride while acknowledging and commiserating that many of the dark forces that inspired its creation linger on. Once again though, it is possible bathe in the hopeful anger that underpins Sleaford Mods blasts of outrage and electro.Where our previous album Austerity Dogs barked a directionless yet solid form of anger, Divide And Exit then carried this basic form of class consciousness, says Williamson of the vision behind the record, both musically and lyrically.After the release of Austerity Dogs we realised we had seemingly created a formula, he adds. Andrew just took the formula and ran with it and his music started to sound much more compact and urgent.Listening to it now, Divide And Exit is perhaps the most punk record we have done, says Williamson, reflecting on how Sleaford Mods felt out ahead, covering fresh ground alone at the time, before going on to inspire a raft of postpunkinfused artists to follow their lead in the albums aftermath. Each song falls out of the last like an extension or whatever. There wasnt anyone in the country doing what we were doing at that point, it feels like it was 30 years ago, but its only been 10. Mad as fuck.LP available to independent retailers on translucent red vinyl in an exclusive sleeve designed by Cold War Steve, plus a bonus flexi disc featuring the rarity Git Some Balls, with new sleeve notes by Jason Williamson and a fully reprinted 2014 interview from The Wire.