Urban synth-punk poet, poor effort returns with new single: talking mouth (on & on) continuing with the ‘minimum fuss’ formula

Photo Credit: Nick Jackson

“Love that voice!” – Deb Grant, BBC 6 Music
 
“A very fine line in hip-hop, post-punk poetry” – Chris Hawkins, BBC 6 Music
 
poor effort – talking mouth (on & on) – Out Now
From the upcoming poor effort EP
Released on Fri 3 October 2025 on Hope Taping
www.pooreffort.co.uk
 
watch the talking mouth (on & on) video
stream talking mouth (on & on)

Observation is the name of the game in an information age where anxiety is wired to supple brains in binary form and Salford-based synth-punk poet, poor effort, returns to tell the story with talking mouth (on & on). Bringing the minimum fuss mantra to a maximum fuss era, the track goes heavy on the bass and lo-fi electro melodies as wordsmith, Matty Dagger lays on laconic takes on the age of digitally-boosted individualism.
 
Lifted from a debut EP, now confirmed for release on Fri 3 October 2025 on emergent Manchester new music label, Home Taping – in partnership with EMI North – poor effort’s latest single follows June’s lauded City Of Hope. A frenetic rush of scratchy machine percussion, barbed wire guitar lines and feint damnation of ultra capitalist regeneration, the track rattled on the pinball machine of UK radio, grabbing support from BBC 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Introducing Manchester.
 
This time around, talking mouth (on & on) addresses the chaos of communication overload, with due self-awareness of nobody being entirely free of the scourge of self-interest and how “conclusion arrives before irony does in the slow death of nuance.”
 
Working purposely with tempo as a mood-shifting mechanism, and echoing the same real-yet-playful urbanism of The Streets, Sleaford Mods and early Gorillaz, talking mouth (on & on) stays true to the poor effort formula of communication by entertainment and grit with a grin. Writing with intent in isolation before taking tracks to the studio for completion, Dagger’s experimental approach is assisted by his night owl tendencies and insight into air-pushing sonics.
 
Dagger says of the single:

“At first ‘talking mouth’ was a lot faster and more of a thrashy garage punk song, but I struggled to get the chorus to feel right at that pace. I slowed the tempo down and found that this let it breathe a lot more while still maintaining its distinct drive. The synth melody and sequencers then transformed the nature of the song completely. The initial recordings are still lying around somewhere, maybe I’ll put them on the bonus compilation in 2050.”

First spotted around a short run of powerful and pithy singles, You’re Wrong, I’m Right (Symphony) and HMRC, in 2024, leading to coverage from DIY Magazine, Louder Than War and debut 6 Music spots, poor effort has been well-received as a prosaic barrage against total surrender to bleakness. Inviting relatable humour into a musical sphere of trippy beats and pencil-sketch riffs. Dagger, originally from a mill town 15 miles from Salford and Manchester, has set out to cultivate a distinct environment of lo-fi storytelling.
 
poor effort’s timely wordplay, growing imperfectly from the seeds of social disintegration and resistant aspiration, much like Benefits, Sleaford Mods and Kae Tempest, grew green shoots during lengthy lockdowns, putting self-learnt production techniques and poetry to tape. Dipping in and out of alternative hip-hop, post-punk and electronica, the self-taught musician completed the poor effort EP in collaboration with producer, Dean Glover (Roots Manuva, Anthony Szmierek) in vibrant outer-city suburb, Cheetham Hill.
 
poor effort’s pupation from outline concept to tangibility was hastened by Dagger and his rotating roll call of musicians performing as a live unit for the first time in spring 2024. Since performing at venues including Colours Hoxton, taste making Manchester nights with Akoustik Anarkhy and Thump! plus poor effort’s own shandy and crisps showcase at The Eagle Inn, Salford, more appearances and self-originated events are set to follow through the rest of 2025.
 
Connect with poor effort:
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