KNEECAP
Fenian (Heavenly)
Riding the crest of a green wave, Irish hip-hop firebrands Kneecap return with third album Fenian, in which the trio make great capital of the UK government’s repeated recent efforts to curtail their vocal and increasingly popular activist stance. This most recently manifested in the terrorism charge unsuccessfully brought (and appealed) against MC Mo Chara, which Northern Irish FM Michelle O’Neill referred to as an “attempt to silence” him from speaking out against “the genocide in Gaza” – a recurrent theme of Kneecap’s work.
Following on the tails of last year’s The Recap – a single which dealt with Kemi Badenoch’s failure, while Business Secretary, to withdraw a government arts grant to the band – Fenian finds the self-proclaimed ‘kings of Belfast’ with considerably more grist for their collective mill. Tracks like Liars Tale, which pulses with a sleazy bassline, act as platforms for Mo Chara and fellow MC Móglaí Bap to venomously verbally abuse the British political establishment.
Musically, there are few surprises: Fenian contains a succession of hyper-energetic bangers that will kick up dust at festivals all summer, no doubt, though there is a lack of the compelling hooks that have typified previous releases.
words HUGH RUSSELL
