The new Enter Shikari track has penetrated my brain with its catchiness. Which is really kind of eerie given the subject matter of the song and its video.
“Live Outside” was released on 1st August, with Enter Shikari announcing a new album on the way; The Spark. The eleven track album will be the band’s fifth full-length studio album.
If you soak up “Live Outside” by its music video, it tells a mesmerising story. The repetitiveness of the chorus reflects a life of monotony that for awhile is pleasant and ‘just how it is’, before the cracks start appearing.
There are these parts that aren’t comfortable or content to keep going along with what is expected, and they are gradually becoming harder to be ignored/suppressed.
“Waiting for the thought to be left
Unattended and open for an unwanted guest
And it’s so busy I’d be surprised
If I even noticed”
The video is surreal, amusing, and horrifying, all at the same time. The characters demonstrate a hopeless futility of existence, even when a spark of change or resistance occurs. This observation, manipulation and control by powerful forces (whether seen or not) also hits close to home, as does seeing the shiny happy well-polished faces and knowing there’s a darker truth behind them.
It’s uncomfortable to absorb the happenings of this video. Even when we rage out and rebel (with full Enter Shikari forces – ‘they don’t even know about us!’) and feel we’ve broken free from the monotony, are we actually free? Is this the truth of it, or is there something more hopeful? Is there a ‘spark’ of hope maybe?
Details about The Spark, including beautiful vinyl options and merch are here: https://www.entershikari.com/posts/thespark
