Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It's difficult, listening to the accumulation of worry, self-disgust and hedonistic declarations of mea culpa on Paper Scissors Stone, not to take Cerys Matthews's recent highly publicised retreat to rehab with at least a pinch of salt. What a coincidence that she should be seeking Priory-style treatment mere days before releasing an album featuring lyrics such as: "The queen of clubs drinks in pubs on her days off, over/ Swills down dregs, drags on duck-arsed cigarettes"; not to mention a track called "Is Everybody Here on Drugs?", doubtless devised to evince an affirmative audience response at live shows. Of course, it could just be a case of her art mirroring her life, though Cerys's boozing is, on this showing, the least of the band's problems. More pressing, surely, is the glaring absence of a hook as memorable as "Road Rage" or "Mulder & Scully"; the closest they come here is the single "Stone by Stone". Nor is their knack of tapping into that kind of tabloid cliché as potent as before, the blatherings of "Fuel" ("Go ask the government you voted in on trust/ Where is our fuel?") being dated and hopelessly confused. To be fair, the band are trying to broaden their approach beyond the shrinking indie market, with string arrangements, dyspeptic horns, token clubby drum programmes and old-hat didgeridoo drones, but ultimately it sounds more like cowardice than courageous exploration.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments