Published by Mason Oldridge, 4 March 2022
As indie rockers The Wombats’ fifth album Fix Yourself, Not the World becomes their first No. 1, we take a look at The Wombats discography to find out if they truly are a modern glitch in modern music.
Their debut album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation was just another basic indie rock album by another group of Arctic Monkeys or Franz Ferdinand wannabes. So what changed? Upon their second album This Modern Glitch, it was the introduction of lead singer Matthew Murphy’s keyboards that brought about a whole new aura of energy that created their unique sound. Lead single Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) tells of the fun they had at a bar in the Japanese capital where they could forget, or at least temporarily escape, their worries and is accompanied by synth that recreates the atmosphere of the experience. This is not the only track you can dance to from the album which sees the boys seemingly find their footing with their sound. Our Perfect Disease opens the album and is potentially the catchiest song on the record, though discusses the heartbreak of missing an ex with the chorus explaining “we all need someone to drive us mad”. The ability to mix upbeat music with soul-crushing lyrics is one that definitely works in the band’s favour. Anti-D brings about a nice change of pace as the strings-orientated slow-build song chronicles Murphy’s real-life battle with the effects of anti-depressants. The lyrics ring all too true in this one as Murphy cries out “I needed more than what was in those 40mg”. The centrepiece of the album, however, is Techno Fan. This perfectly covers the high level and vast array of emotions experienced at a nightclub and again transports you to the club itself. “I’d chop a limb off just to have a good time” refers to the desperation to go out, “I didn’t queue for an hour to leave straight away” tells of the struggle just to get in, “move with me or get out of my face” references the close proximity to strangers and “the lasers fill our minds with empty plans” is a genius reference to how the intense lighting mixed with intoxication results in an overactive mind fantasising about something that will never happen.
Follow-up Glitterbug proved their previous effort was not just a fluke. The album opens with the emotionally-charged Emoticons. The whining guitar matched with Murphy’s falsetto vulnerably channels the pessimistic message “all these emoticons and words try to make it better but they only make it worse”. The opener erupts into a revelation of emotion which is wrapped up nicely with a theramin-inspired ending. Give Me a Try follows the unsuccessful attempts at dating, often put into practise in a club, which would be an idyllic environment for its airplay. Be Your Shadow focuses on the heart-wrenching topic of infatuation and how you lose self-worth for attention of the other, exemplified in the lyric “kiss me with your fist, it’s alright, wrap your hands around my throat I won’t mind”. Even violence is accepted when a victim to infatuation, heard in Murphy’s admission “I just want to be your shadow”. With Glitterbug, the band has produced another set of songs with powerful and hard-hitting lyrics disguised with energetic music to match the setting and emotion of the scene.
Their fourth album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, seemingly a warning, is musically darker in tone and features a noticeable return to the guitar being at the forefront. Lead single Lemon to a Knife Fight makes use of the acoustic guitar with a sinister riff creating a chilling atmosphere. The comical take on the widely-known metaphor is actually based on Murphy’s experiences always losing an argument with his wife but is a haunting insight into being underprepared and outmatched when extracted to a more serious situation. Turn is a beautiful contrast between the positive and negative aspects of someone you love and how you can identify the flaws but ultimately are drawn to them and admire the little things. The lyrics alternate between compliments such as “you could give an aspirin the headache of its life” and criticisms based on memories such as “seeing a message flash and then smashing up my phone”. The comparisons result in attraction overpowering the toxicity as Murphy contemplates “maybe it’s the crazy I’d miss” before concluding “it won’t get better than this”. The song is centred on the beautiful compliment "I like the way your brain works” which is a clever representation of attraction stemming from the complex psychology of one’s mind.
The band’s latest album Fix Yourself, Not the World, a message all too relevant within the bleakness of today’s society, continues their line of emotional lyrics against energetic music. If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming with You returns to the theme of infatuation, with lyrics such as “trying to make friends with the friends you’re close to” touching upon the desperation felt in this scenario. Everything I Love Is Going to Die looks at how getting caught up in happiness distracts us from the concept of mortality. There is also heavier experimentation heard on the album in tracks such as Method to the Madness. This latest effort is the fourth consecutive album to delicately balance emotion and energy to perfectly recreate an intense or overwhelming experience, suggesting that The Wombats are a talented and wonderful anomaly in a 21st century musical landscape saturated with lyrically nonsensical R&B.