The newest single off the Brooklyn band’s forthcoming EP is “a tongue-in-cheek assault on dogma and the brainwashed masses”
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“I wanna be a hamster on // The wheel of god and man // A life that’s black and white and always // Simple to understand // Oh please bury my head // So damn deep down in the sand.“
While it has its perks (art, restaurants, opposable thumbs), being human is… complicated.
We’re not goldfish with five-second memories or animals guided by nothing but survival instinct, and our days involve more than eating, sleeping and actively trying not to die. We have jobs, relationships, hopes, dreams, strengths, struggles and, most formatively, fears. And because we’re not, say, dogs… well, we have dogma.
Unfortunately, the world isn’t black and white, and the ambiguity of the gray has, since the dawn of time, led many individuals to seek the comfort of structure—of strict rules, promised answers and pre-established principles, whether religious or political or, these days, podcasted. People crave clear answers for what’s right vs. wrong, a central figure to determine their fate, and a manual to get them through life with brain-blinders on, without having to feel or think too much about it. And more than individually, these ways of thinking have often been adopted societally, with encouragement—ranging from subtle to outrageously overt—to fall in line, color inside the lines and take the line of least resistance.
Sure, in our search to simplify our lives and ease our existence, we often throw out the fundamental things that make us human in the first place: critical thought, creativity, possibility. But ignorance is bliss, after all. Questions make things complicated! And when life gets confusing and times get tough, you gotta admit that having someone(s) telling you what to do would be pretty nice… and being brainwashed does sound pretty sweet.
With that, I bring you the new single from Vanderwoolf.
The fourth single from the Brooklyn band, the sardonic track explores the mass dedication to dogma while riffing on its promised perks, namely: “Bliss oh bliss like you wouldn’t believe… Order and perfect harmony.”
From Vanderwoolf, this is “Order.”
Quite fittingly given the themes touched on above, Vanderwoolf describes its energy-packed offerings as “garage röck for people with existential dread” and ahead of the release, frontwoman and “classical singer gone rogue” Ash Kersten shared a little bit about the tongue-in-cheek track, on which she chants and taunts and howls and shrieks and shouts, showing off the power of her professional pipes in a far filthier (and more fun) setting atop Max Yaasky’s driving drums and her own fuzzy guitar.
“‘Order’ is a sarcastic angle on society’s pressure to choose some dogma or another and insulate yourself against the realities of the world in it. At some point you have to think to yourself, ‘What if being brainwashed is a better way of life?’ And that’s what this song is about. It’s definitely our favorite song to play live. Our energy together is darkly fun and this song feels like our opening statement.”
The key word there is opening statement. This is a taste of more Vanderwoolf to come, specifically in the form of an EP set to be released in late February and celebrated with a show featuring the full lineup (Ash, Max, Beau Croxton on lead guitar and Henry McGrath on bass) at Our Wicked Lady. Follow the band for updates and more musical dogma of the most delicious kind.
I’m not sure if this is being brainwashed, but I’m definitely not mad about it.
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Follow Vanderwoolf at @vanderwoolf and add their songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image provided by the band.