Social Haul - Social Haul

With TRAAMS on hiatus, Leigh Padley has taken advantage of the current post-punk revival to form Social Haul, a rough and ready trio with a surly attitude. There aren’t many huge surprises here: the singing is largely angry chanting, although without the same anger and urgency of the likes of IDLES, and the band all take turns to shine, whether it’s Leigh’s twisted guitar in The Bayou, Richard Trust’s Clash-like drum opening to ‘I Have A Pen’, or Daniel Daws’ rolling bassline in ‘The Ease’. The range of songwriting goes from upbeat Supergrass and grinding Queens of the Stone Age, to a late dip with ‘Utmost Care’ leaning more towards softer indie. If there is any weakness to the record, it is this sprawl of influence - admirable, but detracting from a cohesive identity. And the album has its fair share of filler too: there is more than enough material for a stellar EP, but it feels like the nascent trio haven’t spent enough time being a band to understand fully their own dynamic. This is a deliberately rough album, and the charm of that leaves a desire to hear them with the polish of a fully-formed identity.