Over the last couple years, Leeds upstarts Party Hardly have tinkered away at their boisterous politic-pop, advancing from cheeky slacker kids into a forceful, sharp bite in the backside of traditionalist Britain. ‘Rats In the Kitchen’, a further take from their upcoming new EP ‘Modern Strife Is Snobbish’, is a smash and grab moment, full of their subtly dry commentary that ensures a level of intelligent insolence still remains.
Shrewd frontman Tom Barr takes aim at the hypocrisy of familial hierarchy, unwavering in his broad drawl as he cusses at the elders who deem “the kids” to just be vandals and reprobates with no respect. Such unprogressive values are spat at by the most riotous sound the band have made yet, a rush of driven guitar and sudden wonky hooks that would provoke as much anger in your elderly next door neighbour as the kids loitering on the street corner.
Party Hardly have continuously had a way of embodying the backlash in coming of age, and while they are perhaps now focusing more on the present, that pertinence still lingers.