Death by Unga Bunga So Far So Good So Cool Review
When Charles Darwin saturday downward to write On the Origin of Species I'm going to hedge my bets and say that he didn't anticipate the figure described in 'Modern Man', the first track from Death Past Unga Bunga's raucous new album, Heavy Male Insecurity, out today (12 February) via Jansen Records.
As frontman and guitarist Sebastian Ulstad Olsen details, there are so many things that define the 'Modern Man'. He's a keen listener, he will stand upward to prejudice. He enjoys baking—subsequently all, he's been nursing a sourdough starter since lockdown 1.0. This tongue-in-cheek portrait of contemporary masculinity is a synthesis of pretty much every dating app bio I've ever read, set to a scuzzy rock soundtrack. Feminism has made great strides since Darwin was writing in the 19th century, clearly, only this tape shows in that location's still a lot more that can be washed in the quest for genuine equality of the sexes.
Norwegian rockers Death By Unga Bunga showcase the problematic stereotypes and conditions that permit toxic masculinity to thrive. 'Egocentric' is a power pop track that opens with the sound of a can being croaky open before the listener is doused in hipster ale. Released back in December, this is a "dude, concur my beer" anthem for the selfish incel trapped in his parents' basement angry at the mitt the world has dealt him. The ring says: "The egocentric mind has no empathy for others and their opinions. Something you'd look from a child, merely it'southward often still the case for an insecure grown man. It's OK to exist selfish sometimes, but it doesn't mean you have to be a complete dick all the time"."
The dissonance that comes from placing Howler-esque 'My Buddy' adjacent to 'Egocentric' serves to highlight the lack of recourse modern homo has for sincere self-expression. This is a genuine and even somewhat cheesy ode to male friendship with chugging riffs and a saccharine chorus: "Everybody likes you / and you're my favourite pal / I locked up my middle simply I gave you a key / my buddy and me". So infrequently do I hear platonic celebrations of male camaraderie that I had to consciously attempt not to read homoerotic subtext into this song.
Next up is radio-friendly rock offer 'Not Like The Others' that will please Sparse Lizzy fans, and speaks to the contradiction at the heart of the social grouping: nosotros all want to fit in, only we all want to be unique, besides. The 'outsider' trope is one Decease By Unga Bunga have been rehearsing since 2007 when they started releasing music; the band played garage rock dorsum when all the other anaemic kids were playing so-called indie, and they transitioned to loonshit rock when garage and psych became all the rage.
Certainly rockier than 2018's effort Then Far so Good so Cool, Heavy Male Insecurity has been snorting creatine pulverization and doing pushups, even if the band themselves condemn macho operation civilisation in 'All Pain No Gain'. The rail takes the endurance refrain of 'no pain no gain' that we've all seen emblazoned across fettle icons' Instagram feeds and asks what information technology's all for.
It's hard non to think of social media again at the album's midpoint when nosotros become 'Similar Your Style', a hotbed of heavy male insecurity where a reply guy offers to modify his style for the girl he admires: "Do y'all like my way? I'll try and change information technology up for yous". In that location'south a thrumming insistence to the melody, a relentlessness that lends itself well to the doting but overbearing presence of men who won't cease leaving 😍 emojis on selfies of women they really don't know that well. Social media breeds overfamiliarity—but exercise any of us really say what we're really thinking or feeling? Absolutely not.
With riffs that could take been peeled correct off one of The Strokes' LPs, 'Live Until I Die' is a frenetic carpe diem ode "about living your life to the fullest/max and not caring too much about making a complete fool of yourself in the procedure. A pandemic rock anthem about not forgetting that no thing what, you'll have to alive until you lot die". Information technology'south a fitting reminder that there's definitely more to life than what your Instagram grid looks like.
The siren in the intro to 'Trouble' is a alert sign—an auditory blood-red flag if ever in that location was ane—as the ring describes a human relationship that you know is bad for you, but you lot keep going at that place anyhow, out of boredom if nothing else: "You're breaking me down / just for the fun / I don't actually mind / so carry on". In 2021 I think we tin collectively agree that nosotros tin do better than guys and gals who transport "u up?" texts at 3am. Adjacent time you hear those sirens, run, run away.
The intro to 'Faster Than Light' borrows from the Bowie 'Heroes' playbook; the bravado and hyperbolic exaggeration from the early days of an online flirtationship requite fashion to a lack of commitment to concrete plans: "Don't expect up for me / 'cause baby I'one thousand useless". After all, there are improve options out at that place and our 'Modern Man' might exist so busy telling another adult female what he thinks almost tertiary-wave feminism that he forgets to text you lot back.
Thematically, the Norway rockers' album is focused on the differences between interiors and exteriors: we each take a self nosotros present to others, and often this 'persona' is at odds with who nosotros really are on the inside. Nosotros tell each other 'White Lies' every day—whether that'southward on dating apps, social media, or on stage. The album'south closer is nigh one of these contrasts betwixt internal feeling and external projection: "Beingness a traveling band y'all often find yourself telling a polite lie or two about how much we enjoyed your shitty venue, and how we'd honey to come back ASAP. ['White Lies' is] about that and that one time someone tried to stab us in Bristol, England."
You heard information technology hither kickoff, folks—fifty-fifty if there wasn't a global pandemic, Expiry Past Unga Bunga may or may non be coming to a venue near yous presently.
Heavy Male Insecurity is out via Jansen Records today (12 February 2021).
Words by Beth Kirkbride
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