The world is doomed, but at least we've got the Mekons. For nearly 50 years, the British punk band has always done things its own way — out of stubbornness, survival or maybe a little bit of both. That snaggled-toothed sneer and smile, with some bittersweet sentimentality swirled in, can soundtrack any moment, but especially when everything feels fraught.
At the opening of this Tiny Desk concert, we're taken back 40 years to one of the band's many crossroads. Mekons' 1985 album Fear and Whiskey recognized that traditional country music was just as rowdy, randy and wayward as punk, and inadvertently pioneered the alt-country phenomenon. The joyous and desperate "Last Dance" is a song about falling in love during wartime — at the Tiny Desk, its past themes reverberate into the present. The middle of the set features two songs from this year's Horror: "War Economy," a post-punk-y throwback to the days when the Mekons would borrow Gang of Four's instruments to write and rehearse, and then "Sanctuary," which, as my colleague Ann Powers wrote, is "a children's rhyme that reveals itself as an elegy." Susie Honeyman, whose violin steadies the storm of Mekons, takes a rare vocal lead, her sing-songy voice like a wisp in a billowing wind.
Another classic from Fear and Whiskey bookends the Mekons' Tiny Desk. "Hard to Be Human Again" is a down-but-not-defeated barn burner that nonetheless needs to be sung loudly and in the company of fellow comrades who have also been "punched and beaten" by life or otherwise. And as long as Sally Timms, Jon Langford, Tom Greenhalgh, Rico Bell, Susie Honeyman, Dave Trumfio and Steve Goulding are around, I'll be there "searching for existence with my red, red wine."
SET LIST
- "Last Dance"
- "War Economy"
- "Sanctuary"
- "Hard to Be Human Again"
MUSICIANS
- Sally Timms: vocals
- Susie Honeyman: violin, vocals
- Jon Langford: guitar, vocals
- Tom Greenhalgh: guitar, vocals
- Rico Bell: accordion, keys, harmonica, vocals
- Dave Trumfio: bass, background vocals
- Steve Goulding: drums
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Production Assistant: Dhanika Pineda
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
- Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
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