Only England seems to be able to conjure up this type of band. It is a mystery, but let’s have some fun figuring out the riddle. As soon as you hear the opening bars, with its bouncy and almost robotic beat, you are transported to the dance culture that exploded across the UK in the 90s. Add a DIY approach to music-making where music dexterity takes a back seat to simmering rage, that taps into elements of UK punk and 80s synth-pop bands like Depeche Mode and Human League. Then there is an almost evangelical focus on the aesthetic so that the music is always cool, never pedestrian. Think Roxy Music, Marc Bolan, and Bowie. Top it off with 17-year-old lead singer, Sydney Minsky-Sargeant’s approach to singing, which is almost atonal and undeniably British. As the young singer explained recently, “We grew up in northern towns trying to get into pubs in social clubs because that’s all we had. The name [of the band] is an ode to that.” That adds the final element: young men and women from working-class towns with dreams of escaping the dreariness and the only way is often through music. Working Men’s Club is another example of this powder-keg of creativity and originality that has allowed the UK to punch way above its weight on the world musical stage for so many years.
