London's Shame have been dragged in under the post-punk umbrella, from which, ordinarily, the view would be of riotous gigs, relentless touring and
fever-dream living as they schlep from one town to the next.

For a band such as Shame, whose 2018 debut, Songs of Praise, was adored to the hilt (“a record that revels in delivering dirty, nasty rotten little thrills”, opined Clash magazine), last year’s sudden withdrawal from their intense lifestyle had its drawbacks.

For Charlie Steen, the band’s energetic-to-feral frontman and co-songwriter, such abruptness triggered changes in his life that would have been thought unsuitable in pre-pandemic times. Steen’s approach turned from partying his way out of psychosis to a sombre realisation that his self-medicating methods had to end. “When all of the music stops,” he has said, “you’re left with the silence.”

While Shame’s second album, Drunk Tank Pink, isn’t their minimalistic ambient record, there is nonetheless music here that takes the band’s usual ferocity down a few notches. Co-songwriter Sean Coyle- Smith fleshes out the sound with asymmetric flourishes; the tonal nervousness of Talking Heads can be found on March Day, Born in Luton and Water in the Well, while Human for a Minute is almost a ballad.

Visceral vibes return on Great Dog and Harsh Degrees, but there is an obvious recalibration at play that won’t do the band a bit of harm.