The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still is Hot Mulligan at their best, equal parts hilarious, heartbreaking, and unflinchingly loud. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’ve ever screamed into a pillow or laughed to avoid crying, this album is your new anthem…

Words by Felix Bartlett | August 16, 2025

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Let’s get this out of the way. If you’re craving a serotonin boost, maybe skip Hot Mulligan’s fourth album and go listen to Blink-182. The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still is here and is the musical equivalent of chugging a pumpkin spice latte while staring at a pile of dead leaves, nostalgic, bittersweet, and painfully self-aware. But damn, does it sound good doing it.

Hello Modern Baseball, is that you? The opening slow burn of ‘Moving to Bed Bug Island’ might trick your ears with that familiar Midwest emo wistfulness, until Hot Mulligan yanks the nostalgia rug out from under you. The Michigan crew teases you on this opener with a slow burn. It’s moody, atmospheric, and just when you’re lulled into a false sense of security, ‘And a Big Load’ kicks the door down with a punk-infused tantrum about existential dread. Classic Hot Mulligan. The song’s chaotic energy, complete with a skate-park mosh pit in the music video, perfectly mirrors the lyrical theme of self-sabotage, where vocalist Chris Freeman deadpans about hangovers, apologies, and the terrifying freedom of having too many choices (including, y’know, drinking a million beers or just giving up entirely).

Then there’s ‘Island in the Sun’, the album’s standout collab with Free Throw’s Corey Castro. It’s a high-tempo, two-stepping banger that tricks you into thinking it’s a feel-good anthem until you realise Tades Sanville is screaming about emotional decay, dissociation, and the struggle to cope with regret.

One thing to remember is not to let the goofiness of these track titles fool you, this album filled to the brim with lyrical gut-punches. ‘Monster Burger and a $5 Beer’ might sound like a stoner’s grocery list, but it’s probably actually about the crushing weight of capitalism (or maybe just a really bad Tinder date). Whatever it may be, that infectious math-rock delivery before the first chorus is going to pull you in by the wrists and get you off your arse. This is the kind of track you’ll be blasting after that first date (whether it went well or not).

Then comes the sucker punch: ‘Milam Minute’, a slow-burning acoustic belter that hits harder with every note, just as you’re catching your breath, you’re hurled back into the regular antics of absurdity and pop-punk delights with ‘Cream of Wheat of Feet Naw Cream of (Feat)’ before Sanville’s closes off the album with screaming angst on ‘Slumdog Scungillionaire’ before the contrasting penultimate track, ‘My Dad Told Me To Write A Nice One For Nana So This Is It’, which sends you off with a deeply emotional acoustic outro.

Production-wise, The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still is their tightest work yet, and it shows in every sweat-drenched, road-tested note. The years of nonstop touring since Why Would I Watch have refined every rough edge into something lethal.

The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still is Hot Mulligan at their best, equal parts hilarious, heartbreaking, and unapologetically loud. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’ve ever screamed into a pillow or laughed to avoid crying, this album is your new anthem. Perhaps don’t listen to it alone in the dark ey?

Verdict: 💀💀💀💀

For fans of: Mom Jeans, Knuckle Puck, Oso Oso

The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still is released on 22nd August 2025 via Wax Bodega.