I’m brand new to Other Half – I first heard “Transgression is Outdated” a week or so ago, and the music seemed to be laser-targeting my own exhaustion and disenchantment in the moment. Cal Hudson musters all the cynicism and weariness I was feeling at the time with lyrics mourning the loss of his youthful punk attitude:
Gone are the mood-swings, gone is the bile
It’s been such a long time, I can hardly recall
What was so appealing in the first place
Gone are the taunts, gone are the jeers
Just a toothless dog tied to an expired idea
Tied loose but too thick to notice, too thick to know
The track swings between sardonic verses and urgent, driving sections, with Hudson’s vocals dripping with disillusionment as he sings, “Transgression is outdated, I haven’t got the stomach for it anymore.” The lyrics take aim at the band’s own past and the hollow rebellion they once admired, reflecting on a time when “the blows at the beach, the bleach in the speed” defined their chaos. It builds to a crashing close, with a raw energy that feels like a band shedding old skin, embracing a new kind of honesty, or finally airing regret at not affecting the change they once wanted to.
“Transgression is Outdated” follows last June’s Dark Ageism – continuing that record’s themes of aging and authenticity, in the words of the band:
…what it means to be in their 30’s and still doing the things they were doing at 18. Their own personal dark age, where the only things that seems to change is the price of a pint and how hard the guilt stings in the morning. Some cosmic debt for all the ruinous shit, I suppose.
Their misery is our benefit. With Dark Ageism, Hooper, with bassist and vocalist Sophie Porter, and drummer Alfie Adams have released one of the great punk albums of the 2020s. It’s gloomy, poetic and stunning. I’ve had this on repeat since first listen.
Opener “Lifted Fingers” sets the tone for the band’s exploration of a personal dark age. Hudson’s vocals take on a more melodic approach here, a shift from his usual spoken-word style, as he laments the commodification of everything that used to be punk with excellent wordplay: “Brand activations at demonstrations / Bank sponsored seances, communing with the debt”.
The track features a spoken-word section by Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, whose voice offers a hopeful counterpoint to Hudson’s doom-mongering, emphasizing the importance of preserving the DIY spaces where punk thrives. The song’s fuzzy, distorted build captures the tension of holding onto ideals in a world that wants to sand them down, making it one of the album’s most tender yet searing moments.
Amongst the anger and urgency of tracks like “Strange Loop” and “Sucked it Sore”, another gentle moment comes up. “Feeling for Yourself” sees Porter take lead vocal, seeing the world through the eyes of Ali, a striver who is realizing that upward mobility is a hoax, and the system that oppresses the poor is functioning as designed:
I could write an essay about almost every song on this record. It has become more dear to me with every listen – the propulsive energy and handclaps on “Farm Games” that belie the rage of “a horrid few years / trading joy for resentment”, the near-melodic nature of “Rotator”, and the low-key storytelling by guest vocalist Alexei Berrow that balances Hudson’s cathartic screams on album closer “Other Half Vs. The End of Everything”.
Dark Ageism is apparently the end of a trilogy of albums that included 2020’s Big Twenty and 2022’s Soft Action, tracing the band’s punk ethos and rebellion from their teenage years to their early 30s, and letting late capitalism rub their idealism raw.
If the new single is any indicator, the next cycle for Other Half is going to be as rewarding as the first. “Transgression is Outdated” shows the band isn’t done with big, existential ideas, and perhaps their best is yet to come.
