''Crawler'' is the fourth studio album by British
rock band
Idles
Idles are an English post-punk band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Adam Devonshire (bass), Joe Talbot (singer), Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), and Jon Beavis (drums).
After spending eight yea ...
, released on 12 November 2021.
''Crawler'' received favourable reviews and was nominated for
Best Rock Album at the
65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Promotion
Singles
The first single, "The Beachland Ballroom", was released on 28 September 2021 along with the announcement of the album.
Prior to the album's release, the second single, for "Car Crash" was released. The song was about Talbot's terrifying car accident in the past.
Music videos
After the release of the album, Idles released two music videos from ''Crawler''. The first, "When the Lights Come On" premiered on 13 December 2021 with direction from the company, Holding Hands with Horses. On 8 February 2022, the music video for "Crawl!" was released. The video was a claymation video directed by LOOSE and Edie Lawrence.
Artwork and title
The album cover features a contemporary home, with a man in a helmet and protective pads levitating in front of the home. The artwork for the album was a collaborative effort between lead vocalist Joe Talbot and photographer Tom Ham.
Music and composition
''Crawler'' has been described by critics as primarily a
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
,
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
, and
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
record.
Critical reception
''Crawler'' was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an
average
In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
score of 82 based on 18 reviews.
Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the release a 7.7 out of 10 based on a critical consensus of 18 reviews.
Track listing
Personnel
Idles
* Jon Beavis – drums
* Mark Bowen – guitar, keyboards,
production,
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
* Adam Devonshire – bass guitar
* Lee Kiernan – guitar
*
Joe Talbot – lead vocals, design
Additional personnel
*
Kenny Beats – production, engineering
*
Joe LaPorta –
mastering
* Craig Silvey –
mixing
* Chris Fullard – engineering
* Charlotte Nicholls – cello
* Colin Webster – saxophone
* Dane Cross – additional vocals
* Dani Bennett-Spragg – mixing assistance
* Oli Middleton – engineering assistance
* Stan Gravett – engineering assistance
* Tom Ham – photography
* Mishi May – costume design
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2021 albums
Idles (band) albums
Partisan Records albums