Ariel Sharratt, Matthias Kom, Shotgun Jimmie – Hardly Working (EP)

The Burning Hell have probably got an absolutely brilliant unreleased song somewhere or other about how they’re not a cult band. Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt don’t seem like the kind of people who would appreciate being put into one of those reductive little boxes, but they do seem like they’d write something scathing, self-deprecating and mordantly funny about it. Cult band or not, they’ve got that kind of following: once you’ve heard a couple of their songs, it’s hard to be a casual fan. The songwriting is so clever and so close to the bone that once you get it, you’re infected for life. And they are doing their cult status no harm at all by teaming up with fellow Canadian Shotgun Jimmie, a musician and interdisciplinary artist who brings a kind of DIY surrealism to the Manitoba indie scene.

The Hardly Working EP follows on from Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom’s 2020 album Never Work, which explored the self-consuming nature of late-stage capitalism through the eyes of those at the coalface: depressed office workers, anti-establishment arsonists, revolutionary robots. Coming as it did in the midst of the Covid lockdown, that album felt almost accidentally prescient, but its message is just as meaningful now, if not more so, which might explain why Kom and Sharratt have decided to re-release it and give it a proper tour. The accompanying EP serves as a kind of jolt, a software update for your phone that you never knew you needed but which turns out to be genuinely useful.

The songwriting credits on Hardly Working are shared equally between Sharratt, Kom and Shotgun Jimmie. Opener Polyester Polo is a Sharratt contribution, and she provides the lead vocals on a short, sharp takedown of the so-called hospitality industry. It’s crunchy and guitar-driven, pretty punky by the band’s standards, and perfectly captures the smells and the stains of a day spent serving food and drink to the ungrateful middle classes. Sharratt’s other song, That Job, is a brilliant little slice of social commentary, a look back on jobs that no longer exist or are in danger of disappearing: video shop assistant, milkman, town crier, travel agent. Sharratt’s primary influences seem to be Kimya Dawson-style anti-folk and early riot grrrl, with a bit of twee pop Anglophilia thrown in for good measure, but her angle is very much contemporary.

Kom’s songs come from a similar wellspring, but the details are more surreal and the approach is folkier. Casual Friday features a tin whistle solo that would make the Incredible String Band proud and contains a kind of postmodern creation myth featuring Jesus, the Buddha and hobbits. Yes Chef aligns circus brass with budget drum machines and is a vehicle for Kom’s legendary wordplay. It’s been said before, but his songs bear comparison with those of David Berman, particularly the Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea era Silver Jews.

Shotgun Jimmie takes a slightly grungier path on his pair of songs. Save Me features a clatter of percussion and some surprisingly crushing electric guitars. But as is the case with his collaborators, Jimmie’s lyrics are both clever and funny, while never shying away from the drudgery of the modern working world. Working Hardly moves confidently between shimmering art-pop and a tougher alt-rock sound: it has the feel of a college radio classic you’re hearing again after a whole bunch of years. It’s quite different from Kom’s and Sharratt’s stuff, but it works perfectly.

In fact, the addition of Shotgun Jimmie feels so natural that it comes as a surprise to find they’ve not recorded together before. The Burning Hell’s unique selling point is their ability to write about any subject in a way that is both hilarious and poignant. They seem to be able to consume everything – including consumerism itself – and regurgitate it into dense, shining pellets loaded with pop culture and serious social commentary. It is perhaps this wide range of references that makes them such good candidates for collaboration, especially with an artist as singular and protean as Shotgun Jimmie. It certainly implies an adaptability and willingness to experiment. Hardly Working may only be six songs long, but it is a great example of how a single subject – in this case, the exploitative nature of badly paid employment – can be turned into a multifaceted and highly satisfying piece of work.

To celebrate this release, the trio is embarking on a UK tour:

April 7 – Bristol – Strange Brew (with Quiet Marauder)
April 9 – Newport – Le Pub (with Quiet Marauder)
April 10 – Sheffield – Dorothy Pax SOLD OUT
April 11 – Newcastle – Cluny (with Nev Clay)
April 12 – Glasgow – Glad Cafe
April 13 – Eaglescliffe – P&E Social Club (with Withered Hand and Kathryn Williams)
April 14 – York – The Crescent
April 15 – Manchester – Gullivers
April 16 – Hebden Bridge – Trades Club
April 17 – London – The Water Rats SOLD OUT
April 18 – Brighton – Hope & Ruin
April 19 – Smallhythe Place – Ellen Terry Theatre
April 20 – Ramsgate – Ramsgate Music Hall

Tickets and details: https://www.theburninghell.com/general-clean