A Certain Ratio, the Manchester UK post-punk band that were one of the first to release music on the legendary Factory Records label in 1979, is amid a late-career renaissance. Beginning with the release of the ACR: Box retrospective in 2019, they released studio albums in 2020 (ACR Loco) and 2023 (1982), and produced a remix LP (Loco Remezclada) in 2021 and an archival live recording of the ACR Loco album in 2023.
A Certain Ratio have spent their career creating a unique fusion of post-punk and funk, and these folks are not resting on their laurels. Their new album, It All Comes Down to This, may not represent them at their most provocative, but it does demonstrate that they are comfortable with their legacy while still throwing a few odd stylistic curveballs into the mix. Previous records have featured expanded lineups of A Certain Ratio, but It All Comes Down to This sees the group reduced to a core trio of original members Donald Johnson, Martin Moscrop, and Jeremy Kerr, with only guest Jamie Beardmore joining on trumpet for “We All Need”.
A Certain Ratio roar out of the gate with the snappy drumming and flanged guitars of the hypnotic title track. The music is so groovy that listeners might initially be distracted from ominous lyrics such as, “From the dream of life to this / Awake to find that death exists…” The foreboding feeling of those lyrics sinks in deeper during the second track, “Keep It Real”, even as the band offer some practical, potentially upbeat advice: “Can you feel it / Coming on strong / Release the pressure / Big, big fun.”
The fun becomes a bit harder to find throughout the following three tracks. The words to the mid-tempo “We All Need” include references to cocaine, though some of the primarily spoken-word lyrics focus on what we need to get through troubled times. “Surfer Ticket”, a mysterious, plodding song, continues the self-medication theme with dark references to methamphetamines. The dark mood continues with “Bitten by a Lizard”, enlivened by excellent keyboard and percussion effects. Just as it seems like A Certain Ratio will carry the existential mood throughout the album, they conjure up “God Knows”, a gentle pop gem. The lyrics suggest that “hope and feeling” and dreams can be the fuel that makes love work, even if we can’t quite put our finger on precisely what love is.
A Certain Ratio continue to let the earlier fog dissipate with “Out from Under”, another catchy tune that features insistent Nile Rodgers-style guitar courtesy of Moscrop. There are also enough keyboards to quality as grade-A techno-pop circa 1981 (I mean that in a good way). “Estate Kings” brings back the noirish mood but feeds on the energy of the previous two tunes. The mood and atmosphere work just right here. Funky, moody, and mysterious all at once, with memoir-like lyrics that are mostly spoken, not sung.
“Where You Coming From”, a danceable tune with a lyrical edge that seems simultaneously dark and hopeful, paves the way for the LP’s closing track, “Dorothy Says”. Invoking a variety of Dorothy Parker’s witticisms and poetic lines (“beauty is only skin deep but ugly, it goes clean to the bone,” “gas smells awful, you might as well live”), “Dorothy Says” closes It All Comes Down to This on a hypnotic and enigmatic note. With It All Comes Down to This, it really does all come down to this: A Certain Ratio find inspiration in their past work and the music that initially inspired them to create art that exists quite nicely in 2024.