Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The way we perceive the modern world today is one that can leave us feeling sick, that sense of nauseating despair that what we could have had as a species has now been pushed so far out of sight that it may as well be a lucid dream, one that, unless we change the way are governed, will never come true.

What was once considered anarchic, the gold star of attitude of the Punk ethic feels now more than ever to be one we allowed to get away; the price of signing up to conformity after all is the loss of identity and individuality; and in the individual we find the fierce cool of personality and originality that dams compliance and passivity, and to one that the elegance of  the chaotic and the honest foundation of the radical thought by Jamie Lenman in his brand new album Puke, showcases the order in in the extraordinary with intention and with heart.

To be raw is to shed the need to be validated, and yet as each track growls with aggression that valid response takes on its own groove, anarchy in kicking out at the unthinking and the constantly obedient, Jamie Lenman’s vision is one that punk stands on with pride, it is the willingness to be the storm, to be disciplined enough to focus on the event in complete control, with emotions but not conceding to outburst that have no confidence or meaning.

Across tracks such as Aurora Borealis, Lose Weight For Weddings, Sludgehammer, and the aggressively pounding aura of You’re Nothing Jamie Lenman’s reverence for the shock and awe, the song not suffering from manipulation of excess or the burden of constriction, this is the trade of the fast and the extremely furious in bringing disrespect to those in need of being spanked and left with red faces as they admit their failings.

An album of the uncompromising spirit spoiling for a fight and knowing it has the vitreous on its side. Puke is the gag of witticism released, and its unrestraint is to be heard and applauded immediately.

Ian D. Hall