Mandy, Indiana - Urgh Mandy, Indiana

The Manchester-based noise experimentalists remain uncompromising - a force of uncanny nature.

Formed out of buzzsaw electronics, heart palpitation rhythms, and wretched, anguished vocals, this caustic outing, from previous Resident album of the year Top 3 finishers, rages against the horrors of the world, utilising the most venomous of blown-out, industrial noise.

It’s not for the faint-hearted.

Nor should it be.

Much of the album was written during a residency at an eerie studio house in the outskirts of Leeds, then recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester. It was an intense environment partially due to the health issues faced by Caulfield and Macdougall during the writing and recording process.  

Yet Mandy, Indiana remain uncompromising. Caulfield uses her voice as a distorted instrument and a weapon, oscillating between playful and eviscerating. The throbbing siren-sound of “Magazine” stands alongside the cut-up vocal fry of “try saying” and the shapeshifting ferocity of “ist halt so,” which channels the urgency of protest movements, referencing resistance to the genocide in Gaza while speaking to struggles more broadly, while final track “I'll Ask Her” is a deliberate directness calling out toxic boy’s club culture and a tenacious reckoning that hangs over the album at large.   

Although there are still undeniable “bangers” (like the frazzled rap of “Sicko!” featuring billy woods), URGH often feels hewn with precise cinema. From the bristling techno of “Cursive” to the deconstructed feedback loops of “Life Hex,” the album moves between industrial catharsis and cinematic unease, threading a tension that Fair describes as “a remix of itself.” This contrasting palette is both a necessary aspect of the record as well as the underlying connective tissue. 

Though deeply personal, URGH reflects the violent, fractured state of the wider world. Caulfield’s lyrics grapple with assault, systemic indifference, and the omnipresence of pain, while also insisting on moments of beauty and solidarity. URGH belongs in the physical world, and the artwork by Carnovsky, featuring an anatomical illustration of Andreas Vesalius, underscores the record’s visceral confrontation with the body and its limits.  

URGH is both otherworldly, and physical and cathartic, a first step toward healing and a refusal to let the conversation die. 

For Fans Of: The Body / Model/Actriz / Death Grips / Gilla Band / Kim Gordon / billy woods / Special Interest