Enter Shikari are the band that keeps on giving

Enter Shikari are the band that keeps on giving. ‘Live Outside’ is nothing like their other recent releases — the heavy ‘Hoodwinker’ and grime-influenced ‘Supercharge’ — so we’re no closer to understanding what new album ‘The Spark’ is going to sound like but, after all this time, they’re somehow more exciting than ever.

Rou Reynolds’ vocals are as varying as always, ranging from the deep and domineering to the frenzied and spoken. An energetic amalgamation of the electronic and rock elements we’re used to, we’re also thrown a racing ending and synthesizers a-plenty. It’s up to us to decide what meaning we’ll attach to the chorus of “I wanna live outside, live outside of all of this”, but the lyrics of the verse suggest stepping outside of and gaining respite from a never-ending internal monologue and a constant conversation with the world. That’s not in keeping with the video however, which is a warped Orwellian nightmare that takes a Black Mirror turn for the sinister.

Plenty have already complained about a watered down change in sound, but this is Enter Shikari. It’s different to what came before and it’ll be nothing like what comes next, but isn’t that part of the fun?