Eamon Blog

Today's Shelf Pull: Muse, Will of the People

Big gestures, small retreats, and a useful pause between sides.

Muse make room for metallic guitars, electronic tension and exposed emotion on Will of the People. Read the full story from Kilmorna in Listowel.

Muse do not approach Will of the People as though anyone needs help staying awake. The gestures are large, the guitars can turn metallic, and the singing makes a virtue of theatre. Yet the most useful way into this record is through its contrasts.

Released in 2022, this ten-track album has enough changes of mood to make its vinyl sequence worth following. Five songs occupy each side. That division gives the quieter material a particular job: it interrupts the spectacle rather than merely decorating it.

There is warmth here, although it does not always arrive wearing sensible clothes. Between the electronic textures, heavy riffs and grand vocal delivery, smaller emotional concerns keep surfacing. They give the bigger gestures something more interesting to do than loom.

The opening “Will Of The People” establishes the public-facing scale of the record: rallying energy, a title that sounds like a collective declaration, and little inclination towards understatement. As an entrance, it leaves no doubt about the size of the room Muse have in mind.

“Compliance” brings an electronic pulse into that opening stretch. Its tension is a useful counterweight to the title track's rallying character. Listen for the change in emphasis: the feeling of forward movement remains, but the machinery behind it becomes harder to ignore.

Then “Liberation” puts piano at the centre of a swelling arrangement. The shift matters more than any simple division between rock and electronics. Muse change the frame around the voice, allowing theatrical singing to become the organising force rather than another element competing for attention.

These first three songs establish a habit that runs through the album. An idea is not left in one setting for very long. That can feel restless, but it also keeps the record's concerns with power and resistance from settling into a single musical posture.

“Won’t Stand Down” supplies the heavier guitar weight before “Ghosts (How Can I Move On)” closes side A with a more vulnerable emphasis. The placement is telling. Instead of ending the side by making everything larger, the sequence turns towards a feeling that cannot be solved by another riff.

Side B begins with “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween”, bringing playful horror into the picture. It is a useful tonal complication. The album's anxiety is not always solemn; sometimes it puts on a costume and lets the theatrical side take over.

“Kill Or Be Killed” follows with metallic guitar force, making that turn towards playfulness brief. The contrast is worth attending to without treating either song as a detour. On this record, menace can be a dramatic effect or a heavy physical presence.

“Verona” opens another route through the second side, with romantic melody on a broad scale. After the heavier material, that change feels less like a retreat than a different use of space. The record still thinks big, but the emotional distance between singer and listener narrows.

The final pairing, “Euphoria” and “We Are Fucking Fucked”, gives the sequence an energetic finish with bleak humour close at hand. The last title does some announcing of its own. It is not a discreet way to leave, but discretion was never the organising principle here.

The catalogue identifies this as an LP on Helium 3. For listening purposes, the more revealing detail is the split between the sides: vulnerability gets the last word on the first, while the second pushes through horror, heaviness and romance towards its blunt farewell.

Will of the People works best when its changes of scale remain in view. Listen only for the heavy passages and the quieter ones can seem incidental. Follow the sequence instead, and those quieter turns become part of the argument.

For a Listowel shelf pull, the attraction is that mixture rather than a promise of restraint. This is rock with room for electronics, piano and an unembarrassed appetite for drama. It is unlikely to be mistaken for background company.

Give both sides their say. The bigger moments supply the immediate impression; the changes around them make a second listen worthwhile. Even the spectacle benefits from having somewhere smaller to go.

On the shelf today:

Muse - Will of the People

LP, 2022

Rock

EUR 26.95

Available from The Kilmorna Collection, Listowel

Buy or reserve: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl/muse-will-of-the-people

Buying vinyl records in Ireland: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl-records-ireland

On the shelf today

Muse - Will of the People

LP / Rock / 2022

EUR26.95 / Available now

Order / Reserve