After introducing their gnarly avant-punk chaos on their 2022 EP ‘Pure Misery’, Glasgow’s Humour have been in a state of refinement recently. Honing their manic energy into something sharper, stranger, and far more personal, their debut album ‘Learning Greek’, fuses feral energy with reflective storytelling as frontman Andreas Christodoulidis explores heritage, grief, and identity.
The title is derived simply from Christodoulidis’ decision to start learning Greek, which quickly became the spine of a record about reconnection and reclamation. Grappling with the circularity of culture and the way family history threads into our identity, its 11 songs crackle with urgency as past and present collide.
From the paranoid fever dream of the post-hardcore opener Neighbours to the poetic indie-rock cut Dirty Bread, ‘Learning Greek’ runs on a potent supply of razor-edged riffs and moments of startling melodic clarity.
At their most direct and balanced while also leaning into the lurching rhythmic changes that have become their staple, it’s a record that’s comfortable in both its absurdity and its profundity.
The pop-punk leanings of tense, swelling anthem Memorial draw upon poet Alice Oswald’s reinterpretation of Homer’s Iliad to understand death’s inevitability. Elsewhere, Die Rich explores the objects we hoard as offerings for our transition to the afterlife, and Aphid offers a bleak contemplation of the thoughts that take hold as we approach death, partially inspired by Greek poet C.P Cavafy.
Arranged around an interlude of Christodoulidis and his father reading an excerpt from Andreas Embirikos’ essay On Philhellenes Street, it’s an album that certainly flirts with pretentiousness, but ultimately finds poignancy. It helps that many of the solemn and ruminative moments on ‘Learning Greek’ are paired with deadpan humour.
On Neighbours, the vocalist’s stark revelation of “I could easily be the first to die” is balanced by its following line “face pressed to the mirror like an asshole” as a reminder that life’s weight is almost always shadowed by utter ridiculousness. That balance is also found in the album’s sound, each musician knowing precisely when to let a riff simmer and when to let loose and tear it all apart.
Rounding out with the charming post-rock awkwardness of In The Paddies and haunting closer It Happened In The Sun, a song centered around the confessions of a serial killer, ‘Learning Greek’ is an album that feels lived-in yet restless. Its flaws on show in all the right ways, it’s a debut that showcases how much Humour have grown in such a short amount of time. Fierce, self-aware, and unafraid to wrestle with life’s impossible questions, it hones the quintet’s experimental impulses and complex storytelling into some of the finest, most pensive post-punk you’ll hear right now.
Humour Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu November 20 2025 – LEEDS Oporto
Sat November 22 2025 – MANCHESTER YES (The Basement)
Sun November 23 2025 – NOTTINGHAM Bodega Social Club
Tue November 25 2025 – BIRMINGHAM Dead Wax
Thu November 27 2025 – MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms
Fri November 28 2025 – LONDON Lexington
Sat November 29 2025 – BOURNEMOUTH Bear Cave
Sun November 30 2025 – EXETER Cavern Club
Tue December 02 2025 – CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
Wed December 03 2025 – BRISTOL Exchange
Thu December 04 2025 – LIVERPOOL District
Fri December 05 2025 – NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Zerox
Sat December 06 2025 – GLASGOW King Tuts
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