When you know, or perhaps just suspect, you’re being watched, there’s three paths to take. Go about your business with no changes – after all, what are you doing that’s wrong? Maybe you hole up, feeling exposed and vulnerable, even violated – you deserve freedom to act as you wish without people prying. Or you could lean into your quirks, egg on your personal voyeur and play chicken with their sensibilities and/or sanity. Which way, Western man?
Atlanta’s SMALL choose the latter in defiance. Coming from the place that made cop cities newsworthy and enter political consciousness (though don’t get it twisted – several cop cities exist nationwide), the band that touts ‘PERVY PUNK FOR SAD FUCKS‘ as their mission get voyeuristic on their new song “Surveillance!”, the thesis of which is, ‘Why would I live with any less love just because something evil is watching?‘ Today, we’re premiering the whole track for you, a Valentine’s Day treat if there ever was one:
“Surveillance!” is one of the heaviest songs I’ve heard from SMALL, and rightfully so. Underneath the teasing lies the torment and fear of being watched and exploited, not knowing what the reaction is or what the consequences will be from simply living your life. There’s ample reason to be pissed off. Though the themes are laid bare – surveillance, government overreach, privacy, etc. – there’s also others that come to mind like the growing paranoia around and puritanical policing of porn and sexuality, especially with Trump’s fucked up no good very bad second term off to a rousing, ridiculous start.
Sonically, it’s rough, a choke and slap of a punk track with driving bass, caustic guitars, energetic drums, and fried vocals that carry melody just as they do a riot grrrl-esque fervor. Samm Severin’s lyrics cut like knifeplay and burn like hot wax on your chest, not pulling any punches when it comes to what she thinks of the predicament of living in a surveillance state – ‘They make the laws to keep you poor/Then make you pay for their new war/The secret police are at the door/We don’t teach freedom anymore‘. The chorus is where things get particularly fiery with Severin not budging in her desire to live as she pleases, even indulging in it a bit: ‘I keep saying yes and turning on the video/I’m getting in the shower, you can keep me on the phone/If they’re always watching, welcome to the show!‘ There’s power and agency in that – taking control of a situation and turning the tables as much as possible. Whether to seduce, meet your own needs, or something else, it’s hard to place any fault on a person for doing whatever they do to an oppressive, seemingly omnipresent power with the ability and freedom to enslave and kill you at will. In that sense, “Surveillance!” is resistance; a wild-eyed, lip-biting promise to never falter in who we are and what we do.
If this song made you as hot as it made me, maybe throw some money at SMALL for the pleasure in the form of purchasing “Surveillance!” on Bandcamp. You can ogle the band yourself through their Instagram, just don’t be weird about it.
