2018 Contenders: Angry Cyclists of the World, Unite & Take Over!

It's been a while since I found myself drawn into a new Proclaimers album - no fault of theirs, merely my inability to keep up with all the bands in my bailiwick. The title track of their latest release seized me by the throat the second I heard it on the radio though, and it's refused to let go. It's definitely one of the best songs they've ever written - and topical too.

Frankly, this is the best song Billy Bragg hasn't written this year - a year in which we've been crying out for someone such as he to cast a caustic eye over the world and decide we're all going to hell in a handbasket. I wouldn't have expected the Reid brothers to be the ones to step into Billy's shoes in the way they have, but in Angry Cyclist they've found the perfect metaphor for our crazy mixed up world in 2018... and the rest of the album's not bad either.

For me I feel this era has been kissed

Kissed

By the aura of an angry cyclist

List

Black clothing, so sincere

Red anger, born of fear

There's nothing half as queer as today

I take a few steps back to gain perspective

Perspective

And kid myself that I can be objective

Objective

(This is the moment when the slow build-up ends, the beat kicks in, and the Proclaimers - yes, the bloody Proclaimers! - blow the doors off your stereo!)

Watch bigotry advance

Give ignorance a chance

We're facists, we will dance by and by!

One of the songs of the year. From the Proclaimers. Who'd have thought it?