Other Half Release “Dark Ageism” Album

Norwich post-hardcore trio Other Half have released their new album, Dark Ageism, via Big Scary Monsters. The band have been a mainstay of the UK DIY punk circuit for more years than they’d like to admit, puzzling audiences with a combination of caustic Dischord-style post-hardcore, sneering indie rock and tongue-in-cheek classic rock tropes, all tied together with vivid, slice-of-life lyricism. Dark Ageism is the culmination of a three-part saga that no one really knew existed, following 2020’s Big Twenty and 2022’s Soft Action. It finds its characters negotiating what it means to be in their 30’s and still doing the same things they were doing as teenagers. Their own personal dark age, where the only things that seems to change is the price of a pint, and how much cosmic debt they’ve accrued over all the years of ruinous shit.

Dark Ageism was recorded by Owen Turner at Sickroom Studio and mixed and mastered by Tom Hill at the Bookhouse, it also serves as an account of life as a punk band three albums deep; dealing in the anxiety of being defined by something that most people bin off in their teens, a difficult sell to a world obsessed with ascending the big invisible ladder. Musically the album finds Other Half at their most harmonically arresting, bolstering their smash-yr-nose-in punk squall with more expansive moments. It’s in tracks like Pastoral Existence and Farm Games where Cal’s sneering builds to an inescapable tension, bolstered by bassist Soapy’s brilliantly raging screams. 

It’s a record that ebbs and flows in gloom and drudgery while at the same time conjuring up a sense of connection, the most precious commodity of all maaan, something Dark Ageism keenly celebrates over its 12 tracks. The album features guest vocals by people the band considers truly formative to what they do, with the aforementioned Matthew Caws (Nada Surf / Minor Alps) and Alexei Berrow (Johnny Foreigner) both lending their voices to characters across the record. Steeped in addictive adrenaline-fuelled hooks, spindly melodies, spoken-word meanders and knotty instrumentation, Other Half’s dark age continues. The band have just finished up a UK run of shows with Problem Patterns and will be stepping out on tour around the UK with Single Mothers in July, as well as an appearance at 2000 Trees Festival this summer.