Rocklab

Placebo are on fire again. More than a quarter-century since vocalist-guitarist Brian Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal started bashing around with broken guitars and toy instruments in Molko’s front room in Deptford, the core duo have dug very deep to spirit up their gobsmackingly urgent eighth long-player. Called ‘Never Let Me Go’, it channels all their skill as songwriters and sound-makers into music that satisfies their near-brutal appetite for self-expression, but also seeks a furious relevance with the early-’20s world we all find ourselves in – crawling out of the pandemic into a landscape of intolerance, division, tech-saturation and imminent eco-catastrophe. ‘Never Let Me Go’ is music for the committed and the disenchanted, for insomniacs, activists and trolls to chew over at their leisure. It also takes Placebo to a thrilling new breadth of sound and style – yet another ‘best album they’ve ever done’, in an unstoppable sequence of them. Once you’ve grabbed hold of it, indeed, you won’t want to let it go.