# Welfare Jazz

Welfare Jazz is the second studio album by Swedish post-punk band Viagra Boys. It was released on 8 January 2021, through YEAR0001.

## Background

The album was produced by Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, Refused), Daniel Fagerström (Kite, Provoker), Matt Sweeney (Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age), Justin Raisen (Yves Tumor, Charli XCX), Fabian Berglund aka DJ Haydn (Stella Explorer, Deki Alem), and Patrik Berger (Robyn, Lana Del Rey).

## Release

On 15 October 2020, Viagra Boys announced the release of their second studio album. In a press release, lead vocalist Sebastian Murphy said of the album: "We wrote these songs at a time when I had been in a long-term relationship, taking drugs every day, and being an asshole. I didn’t really realise what an asshole I was until it was too late, and a lot of the record has to do with coming to terms with the fact that I'd set the wrong goals for myself."
"Girls & Boys" appears in Grand Theft Auto Online on the radio station Kult FM, curated by Julian Casablancas.

### Singles

The first single "Ain't Nice" was released on 14 October 2020.
On 2 December 2020, "Creatures", the second single from the album, was released.
The third single "In Spite of Ourselves" was released on 16 December 2020. The single is a cover of American country folk musician John Prine's song of the same name, and features Australian musician Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers.
The fourth single "Girls & Boys" was released on 6 January 2021.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.8/10 |
| Metacritic | 78/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Beats Per Minute | 77% |
| Clash | 8/10 |
| Consequence of Sound | B |
| DIY | |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 |
| The Line of Best Fit | 8/10 |
| MusicOMH | |
| NME | |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10 |
| Under the Radar | 8/10 |
Welfare Jazz was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 78 based on 16 reviews. At AnyDecentMusic?, the album received a 7.8 out of 10 based on 22 reviews.
Writing for Clash, Josh Gray said: "Much like their 2018 debut 'Street Worms', 'Welfare Jazz' concerns itself with the internal lives of the scuzziest dregs of humanity: no-good drifters who lug their vintage calculator collections from couch to couch, self-deceiving junkies who regale hallucinatory conversations they have with their dogs with the listener, alcoholics who scream and ramble on about their problems and other assorted bottom feeders." In a review for Exclaim!, Sarah Morrison gave the album an 8 out of 10, saying "The album occasionally takes the foot off the gas, to great effect. As Viagra Boys have done on previous releases, Welfare Jazz also features a handful of interludes, a breath of fresh air from the smoky, heavy din of its basement mosh pits." She also went on to say the album is "a massive shift from previous releases, both musically and lyrically,

## Charts

Chart performance for Welfare Jazz :
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 90 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 28 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 179 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 5 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 41 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 2 |