There is nothing imaginary about the talent found in Imaginary Husband and their latest EP, Towards Cleaner Bodies is proof of this. Coming out with the legendary Private Regcords on the 3rd of July, their latest offering takes everything great from their first outing, the fantastic double A sider of It’s the little things and Pang! and building upon its solid noise rock foundation with a more refined sound and a more defined personality. The overwhelming, layered sound wall that defined their first releases have now been focussed through the lens of mixing and mastering of unsung Leeds legend Evan Martin into something that at times is just as raw, just as harsh as their earlier work, but now mixes this early brilliance with a layer of maturity that really brings forth a more cohesive vision of the band and its own unique niche in the Indie crammed landscape of the Leeds music scene. The release comprises four songs, starting with the two-minute, punchy, explosive Rubber and then slowly increasing in length up until the seven-and-a-half-minute long absolute tour deforce that is Beltane that really pushes the group to its sonic limits.

Rubber starts off with a screech, then lurks into a swinging ranting tone and then detonates out into full on screaming before levelling out into the defining trait of this EP, the bands move towards a clearer, more pronounced vocal strain that lies closer to Mark E. Smith’s, Yard Act’s or even English Teacher’s talk-singing. Imaginary Husband’s take on this stands out as its measured placement over heavy noise rock becomes more akin to the spoken word take on the genre found in Jack Horner’s
The Dirt. Here on Rubber that devolves into a harangue regarding music, live performances and fandom as the voice sinks back into the noise in an echoing of devolution back into their earlier work. This works in tandem with the lyrics that encapsulate a fatigue with a social media driven
music industry, where virality is key over the music and the need to churn out releases leads to burnout and hatred of the art. The screaming anger found at the end of the track, reminiscent of their earlier work, acts as a sarcastic regression away from this burden of internet-powered dumbing
down and back to a rawer, less caged existence.

Following this is My Song #8 that opens with syren-like guitar blares over a hot and heavy rhythm section, like a warning of the vitriol to come. The whole song lyrically comes in what is essentially an argument against the concert backbenchers and those who try and spoil it for everyone else. The
ager of just wanting to get on with the gig and enjoy it. the chorus line “I’m just here to see a fucking song,” encapsulates this. The whole track is an anthem for those who just want to enjoy the music. The pre-chorus is a scream built over a math rock-esque base that then shifts from the measured tonality to a classic punk chorus with seriously chantable live potential. The syren-guitar riff returns at the end of the track once again before an even greater escalation in the tracks noise levels which
marks the breakdown into a now-classic imaginary husband noise scene to end the track off. This track is the most prototypically punk one on the EP. While ‘Rubber’ tends towards a more experimental sound, My Song #8 benefits from the luxury of sticking closer to raw punk, with heavy
Imaginary Husband twists on it, and the track is a standout because of it.

Next up is the lead single of the EP, Warhammer Room. Here we start to see the shift from an angry sound to a more melancholic one that defines the latter half of the EP. It feels odd to describe what is principally a noise rock song as wistful, but that is what this track is, its introspective and
reminiscent. Each line of the verses feels like a one-line poem or longing text. The spacing of the lines is what makes this song. Standing in stark contrast to It is The Little Things where the words at time feel like they are tripping over each other to get out the mouth, Warhammer Room’s words are deliberate, they have a cadence of purpose to them. The song immediately stands itself apart but starting not with drums, not with noise, but with a borderline jangle-pop guitar riff before bringing the rest back in. The verses come and go and then there is the choruses, almost roared into the microphone, deep and rough that just feel anguished. The vocal assist from Kiosk’s Bella Alcock only aid in building a more layered and nuanced sound that only becomes more atmospheric as the track rages on. The song feels like pain, it feels more personable than anything prior to it and marks a real humanising turn in the music that changes them from anonymous noise rockers into connectable individuals.

Finally comes the bands magnum opus, Beltane. Those of you wise enough to pay attention to Contact Buzz have known of this song for 8 months now through two incredible releases and the full studio version does not disappoint. The whole song feels like watching a loved one walk away. It is
slow and tempered. It is mature and fragile. It does not rush, instead taking its time to build a world within a song and suck you in. It starts atmospheric and ambient in a way deeply reminiscent of American Football’s Bad Moons. The whole thing feels deeply existential, like feeling heartbreak in
the third person with the full knowledge that there is nothing you can do about it. the sings second act where the noise begins to return is a cathartic need for a song that had built up so much emotional tension. Like the aforementioned Yard Act’s Blackpool Illuminations and English Teacher’s Broken Biscuits, Imaginary Husband do their best work when outside of their comfort zone of fast past freneticism. The crunch on the guitar throughout gives it a distinctive lo-fi edge that make the
whole thing feel trapped in a destructive past and the finish line of “It’s gone, too far, this time” broken up with seconds between in part really exacerbates this feeling of despair. Beltane is not a happy listen, you will not stamp your feet or sing along, but you will feel and it is the maturity to
now be able to elicit these emotions that are the hallmark of a great band on the rise.

Towards Cleaner Bodies is a triumph. It was such range and depth that it is hard to fathom that this is the same band who released their debut single less than a year ago. They were good then, with this, they are great now. Gone is the random noise, replaced by deliberate chaos in only the way a band that has worked extremely hard to do so can manage. The whole EP feels like it is building to the crescendo that is Beltane, but this does not detract from the other tracks. Any could stand on their own as one of the finest releases to come out of the Leeds scene this or any other year, yet
combined they are a strong, coherent statement piece of the band’s progression. As the band prepares to tour London, Brighton, and Hull and even head over to Rotterdam in October for Left of The Dial, they go with an impressive selling point now under their belt. No one who listens this this
EP should be able to resist one of their now legendary live performances. If this is just the start of their upward trajectory, then we are truly in for a legendary run from the group.

Review from William Hatfield – @wrh.2001