Heading into this new single from the Swedish group Aggressive Soccer Moms, I was inclined to call it an acquired taste, but having been completely won over somewhere around the middle of its runtime, I was inclined to change my mind, or maybe I “acquired” its taste a little bit sooner than I anticipated.
Aggressive Soccer Moms are an amazingly named post-punk trio that hails from Stockholm. Composed of Anders Bergström, Thomas Wahlström, and Stefan Wistrand, the trio’s sound is without a doubt steeped into punk, but it is a kind of punk that’s electrified, modernized, industrialized, and machinated. Darling is another single from their upcoming album, titled Quint, which is set to be their 7th studio album. Released in the tails of their latest brilliant single ‘That’s How I Feel’, which has a throbbing, electronic sound, with its fair share of Aphex Twin and Massive Attack influence, Darling heads in a totally different direction that’s concurrently similar, in relation to all their latest studio album. The similarity is in the throbbing synths, sleazy sax lines, aggressive vocals, and the deep, dark, melancholic, and the similarities are superficial because while Darling shares those elements with the latest single, it manages to effortlessly carry its own weight, and be its own thing.
The throbbing, 3-minute punk gem, is unnerving. With the aggressive, borderline yelled vocal delivery, the exotic-sounding modal composition that lends yet another layer of darkness to the sound, the unsettling processed vocal samples, and the choice of skeletal synths, Darling is horrific cool. The saxophone is a catchy addition that adds a layer of oddness that’s very welcome, and the very first guitar solo in a song by Aggressive Soccer Moms is juicy, minimal, colorful, and serves its role delightfully, for an end result that’s a trip of pure punk oddness that sounds fresh, invigorating, and succulent.
ASM are a creative bunch, and their continually renewed musical direction at their 7th album is clear evidence of that. Consistently punk, the trio keeps exploring different, less common alleyways of punk, and they do it with loads of confidence, character, and obvious love for what they do. I can’t wait for Quint to drop.