Balaban and the Bald Illeagles – “P. T. A. B.”

Five minutes of no-frills rock music that genuinely earns its runtime and that’s what you get with “P.T.A.B.”, the title track single from the upcoming album “Post-Truth Apocalypse Blues”, and it’s a bit of a relief. It’s powerful, it’s direct, and it’s got hooks that stick around.

The song goes after something a lot of bands wouldn’t touch, the creeping sense that we’re all being managed by people who have zero interest in the rest of us. Misinformation, the slow death of individuality, sociopathic money men playing god with everyone else’s future. Heavy stuff, but the band doesn’t make it feel like homework. Roscoe Balaban’s guitar pulls you in before the words even land, and the rhythm section hits with the kind of punch you’d expect from people who have punk in their blood but aren’t boxed in by it.

There’s a low-end rumble that nods toward Joy Division, and the guitars have a restless, angular quality that owes more to the post-punk end of the eighties than anything currently floating around. That’s not a complaint. This sounds like a band who know exactly what they like and built something real with it.

I find this kind of honest, unfussy rock music genuinely hard to resist. Do yourself a favor and dig into their 2019 debut album “Going Clear” too; it’s a great companion piece. Follow them on your streaming platform of choice and watch out for their live dates. The real question is: how have you not already heard this band?