Everything is a doomscroll when you’re aware. 🙂 You don’t even have to be the type that watches the news headlines, you can just see a meme referencing something horrendous and real, and you learn more about it through that. Hell, you don’t even see the worst shit through official news channels anymore. I’m of the opinion that things have steadily, though with increasing quickness, been getting worse with time – not to discount or make light of the countless atrocities against humankind in the past – and that also helps explain the rise of errant, borderline psychotic noise rock and metal bands that distill The Times™ into their own harrowing expression.
Remote Viewing from London, England are sneaking in their own take with reverberating, heavy sludge that’s one step away from catching an assault charge. Today, we’re premiering their new track and video for “Retrain as a Swan” which is off their new album named State Violence. The whole LP is out September 18 via Human Worth, a label that truly puts their money where their mouth is, but you can get your first taste here:
It’s true, they certainly have and will continue to garner comparisons to the likes of Intercourse or Chat Pile, but Remote Viewing have found their own edge in their around ten years as a unit. It’s easy to call “Retrain as a Swan” mean – it’s ridiculously dense, the vocals searing into your reddening ears as you watch off-putting, aged footage of turmoil with soldiers and cops interspersed with the ‘rewards’ of a good life. Drums sound like a battering ram against your front door, guitars are appropriately thick and rusted. What it really is though, is a manifesto reckoning with power itself.
The flashes of religious leaders with children, police, and other authority figures feels propagandist, not on Remote Viewing‘s behalf (or rather the person who made the video if not a member themself), but the original intent of the footage. ‘These are your leaders, they are upholding order and serving your community,‘ it all seems to say. ‘Relax and obey.‘ Juxtaposing it with factory work and other blue-collar jobs seems to nail this sentiment home of establishing and keeping a neat, tidy order – but for who? Often in the video you’ll the common man, working class certainly, subjected to that same ‘order’ and ‘support’ by getting tied up, slapped around, etc.. Maybe the song itself is giving into power as well. The biggest lyrical stings like ‘make heaven drool my name‘ and ‘I shit miracles‘ feel cult-like, sputtered by someone given even a degree of influence and power over others and now feel insatiably godlike.
Even for someone as seasoned as me, jaded and cynical as I can be, Remote Viewing‘s offering still tugs at discomfort which is a good thing. We all need to be more uncomfortable so we can interrogate why and how we feel that way, then address root issues. This is ultimately what makes this sect of rock and metal music important, and absolutely worth dredging up the more buried morsels of.
Having never heard of them before, I’m now giddily looking forward to State Violence by the band. Again, it drops September 18 on Human Worth. You can surely find preorder details soon on the label’s Bandcamp, and purchase confidently knowing that a portion of their profits get donated to Trussell, a UK charity fighting poverty and food insecurity. You can donate your own food, time via volunteering, or money through their site linked before, or get your own assistance if in need. Don’t wait! Follow Remote Viewing as well on their own Bandcamp, where you can listen to their past projects, and Instagram.
