Released: 2009
The thing with cult bands is that they need to satisfy a whole load of criteria before the cap really fits. Future of The Left were constituted out of Jarcrew and McLuskey, both outfits who’d been loved by a small pocket of fiercely devoted fans and journalists whilst selling a heroically negligible amount of records. So a cult band? Why, Future of The Left were arguably the cult band’s cult band.
It’s not an absolute necessity though to make great music and still be adored by an army of none, although it does help. Here the Welsh trio’s second album Travels With Myself And Another cemented a reputation as maverick scions of post-hardcore in a time where bands like Wild Beasts, Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear were releasing ambitiously weird art rock; nobody was making any money, but the wind was blowing in precisely the opposite direction to where Andy Falkous and co were pointing.
Travels With Myself And Another was leaked months before release, much to the band’s disgust, as opposed to what happens now where a beardy technology company bootlegs your work and calls it streaming. Arming Eritrea was it’s opening song, a glorious mess of distortion and fuzz, Falkous berating the excerable Rick as the band conjured a distinctly non-cult melee. Listened to with an open mind it sounded a bit like the Manic Street Preachers if they’d seen out the last few years in a third hand splitter van.
With a wonderful album anyone who came into contact with it loved, great press coverage and a superb live show, Future of The Left never had a chance. Nobody ever said making it big was easy, and they didn’t.
The Voice Of Unreason 