Following a six year hiatus, Skint & Demoralised returned with ‘Boro Kitchen 4am‘ earlier in the spring. Documenting a chat about Brexit at a Teesside house party, it introduced a raw musical edge from producer David Gledhill, combined with mature and politically-minded lyrics from poet Matt Abbott. Fittingly, it was released on The Day Nothing Happened, ie 29 March.

Where ‘Boro Kitchen 4AM’ brought a raw post-punk energy with it, follow-up ‘#RefugeesWelcome‘ contains elements of jangly upbeat indie whilst still carrying a raucous insistence. The verses take a scathing swipe at the refugee crisis, from the media’s coverage to the UK government’s role via a shed-load of public attitude. The chorus however relies on rousing simplicity, insisting “We are humans, we are all immigrants”.

Lyricist and poet Matt Abbott volunteered at the Calais Jungle in 2016 and his acclaimed one-man show ‘Two Little Ducks‘ laid the foundation for the new album’s lyrical content. Or should that be lyrical discontent? When Skint & Demoralised first emerged on the scene in 2007, Matt Abbott was completing his A-Levels and David Gledhill was producing in Sheffield under the guise ‘MiNI dOG’. Northern Soul-inspired tracks about teenage relationships (see ‘Red Lipstick’) led to a MySpaced-out A&R feeding frenzy and within 9 months they’d signed to Universal Records – one of those classic meteoric rises that the music industry churns out every now and again.

Fast forward to 2019 and Abbott is 30 years old and rapidly establishing himself on the UK’s flourishing spoken word scene while Gledhill, known more recently for his nonchalantly successful SOULS releases, is also releasing a track a week from his East London studio on a new piano project called ’52 Weeks Makes A Year’. Skint & Demoralised have changed, and so has the world around them. Fittingly, their forthcoming fourth album ‘We Are Humans’ is completely unlike previous releases, and represents a sharp political reflection of the tumultuous times that engulf us. (Un)rest assured that ‘#RefugeesWelcome’ and ‘Boro Kitchen 4AM’ represent just the tip of this thoroughly irked creative iceberg.