Viagra Boys – Welfare Jazz

Viagra Boys' Welfare Jazz is the Swedish band's second album, released in 2021, and it sharpens the satirical edge that made their name. These songs take aim at toxic masculinity, racism, misogyny, classism and self-obsession, while the title itself carries a pointed local joke: it echoes the Swedish term for government support given to jazz musicians, turning the phrase into a jab at cultural gatekeeping and institutional class assumptions.

Musically, Welfare Jazz stretches the group's post-punk attack without losing its grime and swagger. The familiar mix is here: wiry grooves, squalling sax, synth textures and Sebastian Murphy's half-snarled, half-deadpan delivery, but the record is notably more limber than their debut. Producers Matt Sweeney, Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, plus returning collaborators Pelle Gunnerfeldt and Daniel Fagerstrom, help give the album a wider frame for that tension between menace, absurdity and black humour.

It also works as a strong snapshot of where Viagra Boys were heading after Street Worms: rough-edged but more open to curveballs. Fan favourites including “Ain't Nice” and “Creatures” sit alongside a closing cover of John Prine's “In Spite of Ourselves,” performed with Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers. For a band built on provocation, this is one of their most revealing records: anxious, funny, confrontational and strangely catchy at the same time.

Features

• Printed inner sleeve

Reviews

• ludicrously entertaining - Pitchfork