ALBUM REVIEW: Eight Rounds Rapid – Love Your Work

Tapete Records

Released: 21.08.20

Wallowing in the filth and plastic waste of a Thames estuary black tide, Eight Rounds Rapid shoot back with their high octane, heavy duty R’n’B post-punk. A lock-up lockdown masterpiece is fuelled by Simon Johnson’s turbo Wilko Johnson-esque (who happens to be his dad) guitar licks and David Alexander’s snarling vocal bite.

Digging deep into the murky Essex underworld they ram-raid a souped-up Ford Capri through the diet obsessed, onesie, selfie surface values. This socially un-distanced commentary exposes an inventory of the tricks of the trade. Witty, caustic, clever, so catchy; a third album that is wonderfully, shamelessly regressive, gloriously excessive and passive-aggressive. A bittersweet love letter posted from an outpost in the pandemic provinces. I’m loving their work.