Don’t worry: the Gurriers have come ‘to save us’

In the beginning, there was “Brutalism”. At the time of its release, Idles guitarist Mark Bowen explained in an interview that, whilst the band’s early influences included Joy Division, Gang of Four and Bauhaus, they were obsessed with Kanye West’s “Yeezus” whilst writing that album. This approach certainly captivated the Gurriers, who chose the guitarist as producer for their new album *Nobody’s Coming To Save You*, alongside Loren Humphrey, who had previously worked on Westside Cowboy’s excellent *It Goes On*. Formed in the midst of the pandemic, the Gurriers made their debut in 2024 with *Come And See*, an album that assaulted you with its ferocious post-punk, leaving you just enough energy to thrash about in time to the music, gripped by unease. The quintet immediately made a name for themselves with their high-energy performances, before setting to work on their follow-up, recorded between Donegal and London.

The Gurriers are one of the most talked-about bands within the so-called ‘Irish Wave’, a movement born of a paradox: the scene is thriving whilst Dublin is becoming an increasingly hostile place to live due to the cost of living. Yet, tax breaks and a basic income scheme for artists – which became permanent in 2026 – have helped foster the emergence of a veritable constellation of bands springing up around the Fontaines D.C. phenomenon. The result is a long, constantly updated list that already includes, amongst many others, Esmeralda Road, Madra Salach, Chalk, Cardinals, Basht and the Gurriers themselves. Some time ago, the band’s frontman, Dan Hoff, was asked how it felt to have made it. He burst out laughing, thinking to himself: ‘I live with my parents in Monaghan, give it a rest!’. Indeed, *Nobody’s Coming To Save You* is an album teeming with non-conformism, politics, alienation and vulnerability, constantly oscillating between disillusionment and a longing for hope.

The opening track weaves together choruses that crash down like hurricanes and verses that explore individual responsibility, social crisis and the need to take action rather than wait for a saviour. ‘Party Lines’ and ‘Shades’ balance a party-loving spirit with a post-punk haze, which is even more powerful in ‘Today Is Not Enough’, where the contrast between a world ‘worn to the bone’ and the perception of a faint glimmer of hope for tomorrow is most evident. The lengthy “Drones”, halfway through the track, rises from the ashes of a mournful ballad to board a speeding train. In “Nothing Happens Twice”, Hoff sings “It’s hard to be a god”, whilst the pages of “Capitalist Realism” seem to spill over into “Waiting for Fisher”, with lines such as “I am a modern-day job” repeated in the chorus. The album closes with ‘Crybaby’, which, in that ‘glimmer in the darkness’, encapsulates the album’s central theme. “Nobody’s Coming To Save You” is a brutal album in search of empathy; it reminds us how much our fragility is a treasure to be cherished and a starting point from which to confront our demons – a world steeped in darkness and the gaze of someone begging for just a little understanding.