Infectious Malcontent Music
Ex-Smith’s frontman Morrissey isn’t at all cryptic about the intentions of his latest single. He doesn’t try to disguise his political message with clever metaphor or vague double-meanings. Instead, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’ seems to be nothing less than a direct attack at the current state of British politics. Morrissey is singing for the right to be patriotic without being a member of the British National Party. Besides that, it’s a fantastically catchy song.
It begins with a simple palm-muted triplet pattern before it is joined by Morrissey’s hauntingly deep vocals. You’re just settling into the dreamy quality of his voice when everything stops for ‘I’ve been dreaming of a time when..’ and dives back into the powerful eight-beat of the chorus. This is Morrissey’s real plea, there is suddenly energy in his voice and an overdriven guitar or two at his back. You’re expecting more of the same, but now he’s back into the melancholy of the second verse. The song concludes itself disappointingly early, after only the second chorus.
This song is a superb effort at combining infectious melody and simple rhythm. The instrumentation is particularly well thought out when considered alongside much of today’s contemporary indie music, and Morrissey’s confrontational lyrics are poetic. Lines such as ‘And I will die with both my hands untied’ are created to inspire a whole new generation of malcontents.
Overall, this is a song to be turned up. This is the polite equivilant of Rage Against The Machine, my only complaint would be in relation to its brevity.