Album Review: The Shortcuts (UK) - Happy Accidents

20 songs. 25 minutes, 53 seconds. I’m not hot on maths, but I make that 1:27 a track on average. It’s obvious that the The [socio-political] Shortcuts tend to stick with their guns and keep things short, and to be honest if they were on my speakers much longer they would be outstaying their welcome.

Even beneath the terrible production, the tinny snare sound which creates a vacuum in your head and the primary lyrics, you can’t dig any deeper through the bedroom-recorded punk rock rubble to get much out of it… simply because there is nothing to it.

I find myself having respect for them recording this DIY and putting it out from their own pockets, but it’s hard not to think that this record is just one big half-arsed throwback to the shitty ‘punk as fuck’ bands we know and (semi) love. With a romanticised ‘fuck you, fashion’ message that we’re regularly reminded of, there is hardly any depth or non-artificial feeling to what they’re trying to say.

‘The Scene Is Obscene’ screams a statement that punk rockers in all corners of the UK have heard and probably once adopted. But what I don’t understand about the whole ideology is why they’re complaining at all. If you want a scene, start a scene. It takes one mind and two hands.

There aren’t any individual stand out tracks on this album – they are all on the same par as eachother at ‘nuclear war is stupid, dead politicians are good politicians and I’ll forever stay true to my friends’.

Yeah, cops aren’t that great. Yeah, we all love our friends.

1/5

Giles Bidder