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Trying to make sense of the times can feel like an exercise in futility, but it can also be a powerful tool of self-expression. That’s the modus operandi of Clamm, a young Melbourne three-piece founded in 2019 by two childhood friends—guitarist and vocalist Jack Summers and drummer Miles Harding—and soon rounded out by bassist Maisie Everett. The band play hard-driving, punk- and garage-fueled heavy rock, and while their 2021 debut full-length, Beseech Me, had some sharp edges, their new record, Care, cuts like razor wire. It stopped me dead in my tracks on first listen—it’s as smart as it is unbridled, and if you can’t relate, you’re either part of the problem or you’re not living on the same planet as the rest of us. The driving “Bit Much” alternates anxiety and catharsis as it addresses the struggle to maintain mental balance in the face of endless bad news, while the plodding “Fearmonger” builds foreboding atmospheres as mercilessly as (though less cynically than) the late-night cable-news anchor types it takes to task. 

Punk is often nihilistic, but Clamm’s concern feels earnest—their generation will be left to bear the consequences of political and economic decisions made today by people who’ll shuffle off this mortal coil long before their bills come due. The yearning single “Something New” searches for meaning and answers to life’s questions, with the knowledge that there isn’t much time—Summers sings so urgently that the clock he’s watching must be attached to a ticking bomb, while guest saxophone from Anna Gordon makes the track feel like an outtake from the Stooges’ Fun House. That Motor City flavor rears its head here and there throughout the rest of the record, notably on my favorite track, “Incompetence,” a searing tour de force that recalls the rhythm and raw magnetism of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” as it indicts ineffectual political leaders and systemic rot. Thankfully, Clamm also know how to have fun: “NRG” closes the album with a wave of sax- and effects-laden chaos that feels like a party at the bottom of a giant bowl of spiked punch. It’s too early to call Care a punk record for the ages, but I’ll be in the first row to hear these songs live when Clamm play my town—and if they never do, I’m going to listen to them straight through the apocalypse.

  Clamm’s Care is available through Bandcamp.

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