Oakland, California, post-punk pop band Everyone Is Dirty have dropped the next single from their new album, ‘eine kleine jukebox baby’. ‘Bad Man Who’ is the follow up to ‘Paper Cutout’, which was released last month.
Unlike the sonic pop art of ‘Paper Cutout’, ‘Bad Man Who’ is a much more folky, traditional melody, with a definite California sound, guitar-led, and opening with the anchor-shaped electronic violin of lead singer and femme fatale, Sivan Lioncub.
As laid back – comparatively – as the song is, ‘Bad Man Who’ is just as confronting as ‘Paper Cutout’, and if anything, it’s a little bit menacing; there’s a sort of madness to the track – I’m not sure if it’s because of the violin, or the Sivan’s vocals, or if it’s down to the lyrics themselves, but it’s definitely one to send a chill down your spine if you’re in a particular frame of mind or disposition…certainly an appropriate track in the run up to Halloween.
Lines such as “goodnight my angel now it’s time to go asleep” are innocent enough except when juxtaposed against lines like, “that bad man who fell right off the world”, “Some day we’ll all be gone but lullabies go on and on”, and, “in the dark blue sky close your eyes close your eyes”…finally ending with, “But if you go asleep I promise you that I’ll be back”. All a bit creepy. I love it.
It’s not always possible to do so of course, but I can heartily recommend listening to this through headphones, as it’s only then that the finer nuances and aspects of the track become obvious, and you get to hear the multi-layered instrumentals and vocals in all their recording studio glory.
You can find out more about Everyone Is Dirty and their sound online on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. ‘eine kleine jukebox baby’ is out November 30. Enjoy ‘Bad Man Who’ below.
