The internet promised us so much. All the world’s knowledge would be at our fingertips: free films, food on demand, remote education, instant contact with anyone in the world, scientific and academic papers for free, a platform to make unimaginable art, and the collective thoughts and ideas of anyone and everyone who wishes to converse with you. It all sounded too good to be true. It was. The reality is that all it has given us was bullying, the spread of fakery in all its forms, a tsunami of porn, and that perfect storm of the anonymity to say anything you liked and a bored and hate-filled captive global audience to agree with you.
It is that last point that Mary Strand addresses with her latest single, “For All of Us (Dear Taylor).” The Taylor of the title is, of course, Ms. Swift, and the question is, why is there so much venom dished out towards her? Now, I’d be the first to admit that her music isn’t my cup of tea; why would it be? I’m not her demographic, but I survived into adulthood without writing intensely worded tweets and posts about the things I don’t like. And what would be the point? Goats cheese, Nicki Minaj, football pundits, and The Daily Mail aren’t going to suddenly disappear just because I haven’t warmed to their dubious charms.
And why hate Taylor Swift? Why is the fact that she is young, pretty, successful, and liberal, enough that some people (presumable older, more conservative and less successful people, presumably less well endowed in the looks department…and probably mainly men, which kicks up a whole new set of questions) wish her downfall? Jealousy? Insecurity? … and where there is one, the other is not far away.
I’ve just realized that I have written all of that based on the song’s premise and haven’t even played it yet, which tells you what a critical point Mary Strand is making here, such that even I can wax lyrical about.
Anyway, here’s the music bit.
Hearing her take a more pop-infused angle with this new one is excellent. There are still the growling guitars squalling away in the background, still that blend of energy and accessibility and still a distant echo of her more usual punky-garage sound, but they are wrapped in some sweeter and lighter sonics, giving things a sort of early 90’s chart-friendly, “blonde-pop” feel, and that is a scene that produced some fantastic music, so why not.
Not only a great single, one that reminds us that Mary Strand and her band, the perfectly named Garage are much more than a one-trick punk-inspired pony, but a song with a theme that gets to the heart of many of the problems of the modern world.
Right, rant over, don’t get me started on Piers Morgan.
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