Dean: After a term of upheaval, punk troop M(h)aol are still hardcore

M(h)aol are a band partial to interruption and upheaval. The release of their exciting debut single “Clementine” was immediately followed by a five-year hiatus. More recent successes with their inaugural EP and first album have been followed by departures from the group’s line-up. This disorder is reflected in M(h)aol’s razorwire punk sound, which trades on a sense of edginess and commotion.

They’ve forged a righteous reputation by writing songs about gender politics and sexism, sometimes channelling (Irish) history to critique the current establishment and patriarchy. Crucial to M(h)aol has been the dry, savage vocals of frontwoman Róisín Nic Ghearailt. So it was a dagger to the hearts of the fanbase when, in 2023, it was announced that Nic Ghearailt would be stepping aside due to struggles with the unorthodox schedule that comes with being in a successful band. This was followed last year by the announcement that bassist Zoe Greenway would also be departing.

The remaining trio – Constance Keane, Jamie Hyland and Sean Nolan – have boldly chosen to carry on without fresh recruits. In the absence of Nic Ghearailt, it has fallen on Keane to fill the void by performing lead vocals from behind the drums. I do wonder if this was a heavy decision for Keane, who already sings as part of her more ethereal solo project Fears. By lending her voice to M(h)aol’s new music, a crucial dividing wall between the two projects has come down.

In another change, M(h)aol have signed to heavyweight American indie label Merge, one-time home of the likes of M. Ward, Waxahatchee and Spoon. Shaking hands and breaking bread with bigger companies always sparks unease that the raw edges of a band’s sound will be smoothed out. The title of M(h)aol’s second album, released earlier this month, can be read as a play on these concerns: Something Soft.

So the question is in the ether: is this iteration of M(h)aol equal to what came before? The answer is: somewhat. While the production of Something Soft can feel less gritty, with a little more polish deep in the grooves, it plays like the natural evolution in their musicianship. As tends to happen to bands who arrive on a wave of raw punk energy, M(h)aol’s sound has become more refined.

The first vision of this new M(h)aol came last year with the release “Pursuit”, included here as the opening track. (Greenway’s leaving announcement didn’t come until several months after “Pursuit” dropped.) Already a signature song, it captures the stress and anxiety women feel when a stranger follows them home. “Sadly, I think it’s something most women have experienced, and something that makes you change your behaviour on a very practical level,” Keane has explained. “It first happened to me when I was 12, and it stayed with me for a long time.”

“Pursuit” features a standard guitar motif underpinning a propulsive soundscape that’s appropriately jittery and tense, albeit with an earworm chorus that sticks. “I thought the shoes that I'm wearing would help me run away from you,” sings Keane. “Who are you anyway?” The transition of vocal duties proves smooth. Keane is undeniably following the formula that Nic Ghearailt established, but even within those guidelines, her voice at times has a more laconic cool than Nic Ghearailt’s riot grrl edge.

The capturing of how women are forced to interact with the world remains among M(h)aol’s chief concerns. The fuzzy “DM:AM” is about male aggression in instant messaging. More playful is “1-800-Call-Me-Back”, a depiction of all the insecurities that rattle through the brain when you’re getting ghosted, performed over the strident sounds of a phone keypad. It’s one of the moments on the album when the intensity of the guitars can resemble an almost electro-shock production. Nevertheless, the band’s instrumentation has lost little of its propulsion: “I Miss My Dog” is a showcase of raw power; the more funk-influenced guitars on “E8/N16” kick like a rabid beast.

There is a surprise on the album’s second half: a remake of debut single “Clementine”, a song inspired by a letter written by Clementine Churchill to the Times in 1912 in support of the suffragettes. The original, which featured Girl Band’s Dara Kiely, appears to have been removed from Spotify, an uncomfortable rewriting of the band’s history. (I thankfully found a download of the track in the depths of the internet for my own digital collection). On this new scrubbed-up edition, the guitars sound like roaring flames, punctuated by the band’s demonic, cultish chants – older Ireland might have denounced this tune as Satanic. The two versions, recorded a decade apart, trace the band’s evolution and showcase that though budgets may be growing, they’re still disciples of all that is hardcore. M(h)aol may be a band with a membership that’s shrinking, and with a profile that’s rising, but they’re still M(h)aol, and, for now, that’s enough.

M(h)aol are scheduled to co-headline a show at Whelan’s on 9 June.