The Dirty Nil
The themes found throughout The Lash’s ten tracks are a bit bleaker and more cynical than Bentham’s usual happy-go-lucky romanticism. On “Rock N’ Roll Band,” he blows off a little steam, warning anyone with rock and roll dreams about the grim realities of the music industry. “Someone else is getting rich, not you!” he sings in the chorus. It’s not advice he’d typically dole out in polite conversation, but it was a real gripe he needed to get off his chest. “It feels really cathartic to lay something down like that,” he says. “It’s a way of making sense of the frustrating side of being a musician. If I can just get some really negative lyrics down with a bang, and add a melody and a riff or two, then I’ll feel better.” Drummer and co-conspirator Kyle Fisher jokes: “I’ve been telling people that this is Luke’s therapy record.”
The Lash sounds exactly like what the title implies—a cold, hard crack of the whip by the Canadian rock band, one that snaps them with a much needed reset after nearly 20 years of exploring the light. Where they’ll go from here, they’re not sure. Maybe the colour shall soon return. But for now, they’re content to enjoy the darkness.