IDLES’ new LP CRAWLER is our reigning Album Of The Week here at Stereogum. We weren’t as hot on the polarizing post-punk band’s last effort, last year’s Ultra Mono. And it seems like the band agrees — guitarist Mark Bowen has since described Ultra Mono as “kind of like a caricature of our identity that helped us see it for all its flaws.”

In a new interview with NME frontman Joe Talbot says that they won’t play Ultra Mono‘s “Model Village” live anymore. The song is a scathing indictment of small-town bigotry. “Still not in love with the village/ Homophobes by the tonne in the village/ A lot of overpriced drugs in the village/ A lot of half pint thugs in the village,” Talbot sings on the track.

“I don’t want to perform ‘Model Village’ live, because I’m not in that place any more,” he says. “I’m not defensive, I’m not angry. I’m not scared anymore, and I was when I wrote that album. There was so much going on around me and I was losing control of our narrative. Instead of being mindful and holding myself accountable, I was fighting.”

“We have taken control of that narrative with CRAWLER,” Talbot adds. “I was in therapy for two years, and it made me realise that I was angry at the wrong people. The critics weren’t the ones that were wrong — I was. It’s beautiful, because now I can see Ultra Mono for what it is — an amazing live album, with a few songs where I was really lost.”