SHARRATT, ARIEL & KOM, MATHIAS - Never Work (Sealed) (LP)

Work is changing. Robots are replacing us. Capitalism is fracturing. With their second duo album Never Work, Ariel Sharratt and Mathias Kom (of Canadian garage-folk band The Burning Hell) ask what work songs might sound like in a future where the nature of labour itself is so uncertain. Accenting the acoustic elements of old-school folk revivals with electronic interference, Never Work takes cues from labour activists and Situationist pranksters to explore the gig economy, side-hustles, tech feudalism, class war, unionized digital assistants, rebellious self-service checkout machines, and fully automated luxury communism. Some are songs about workers, some are songs for workers, but most are both at once. Simultaneously earnest and wry, the songs on Never Work are a protest playlist for our collective journey towards oblivion or the beach