The late 1980s in Britain were a fertile period for post punk tales of calamity. One of the more interesting groups to emerge out of that period were Folk Devils, whose songwriter Ian Lowery had been at the helm of another legendary group, Ski Patrol.
Folk Devils are making their return in 2020, but little about their attitude towards making music has tempered in the years that followed their last recorded material (which is rather difficult to come by, as far as I can tell). Forever sounds like a cow-punk track set in the year of a great drought. It reminded me a little of another underappreciated post-punk figure, Howard S. Rowland and his final solo recordings.
Through it all the Folk Devils have remained angry, bitterly chasing their muse, and unimpressed with promises of sunnier days. That in itself is a thought worthy of hope!
