by Zak Mercado (@ciaoguaglione)
Stuck’s new album, Freak Frequency, is replete with songs ready to take the listener on a journey. The group’s expertise lies in making deeply entertaining post-punk and art rock by means of leading the listener into unknown and unpredictable directions. Each song metaphorically tears into the listener with the canines and incisors and slowly but surely moves them into the morals in the back of the mouth, ruminating on its themes. Eventually they’re spit out. This process is unpredictable on the first listen but subsequent listens are equally satisfying. The unrelenting pace makes way for some space. Not actual space, like sparse playing, but the staccato and precisely rigid playing often subsides into smooth and punky rhythmic moods. Also, this group knows how to give themselves space, as far as production goes. Even though, at times, there is beautiful chaos in the music, each instrument and vocal comes through with wonderful clarity.
Very often, the star of the show is the bass guitar. It’s apparent enough in the mix to make one think that, perhaps, the seeds these songs were written originally with bass guitar lines. On “The Punisher” and “Time Out,” unwieldy saxophone sounds add to the manic nature of the music. This solid post-punk/punk offering draws from many influences into a clear coherent work of art. In general, the vocals read as a mixture between David Byrne and Fred Schneider, with a harder edge. The instrumentation reads as Devo or Fire Engines — the special precision of the former and the slightly more raucous nature of the latter. Moreover, there is a biting polemical edge to their songs, drawing from, musically and lyrically, the likes of Gang of Four.
Greg Obis, the lead singer of Stuck gave a precise picture of this project: “Being in a brooding post-punk band isn’t that appealing to me… when things are bad, all you can really do is laugh.” Inserting biting yet playful lyrics and musical patterns keep things lighter than what some similar musical offerings provide. The album provides ample criticism of systems of power currently in place, particularly in the USA. “Planet Money” reads like Adam Curtis’ HyperNormalization. The group dourly blames big money, “It’s your fault,” as the reasoning for the collapse of society and the realities of economic inequality; yet, playfully, they add “the system works.” The truism of wealth being the sin qua non of happiness and power is a scandalous ruse.
The clever playfulness of the lyrics is seen throughout. On “Plank III,” Obis sings, “I feel push from the darkness/so what do I do?/Push back!” The aggressiveness of these statements are key to the cultural and economic criticism the lyricist posits. Being self-aware, this group isn’t merely content in using its music to critique. On “Break the Arc,” the narrator asks, “Is progress still progress/without justice and just process?” Their first-person singular call to arms is: “I want to break the arc/I want to set it right,” and, in the plural, “We can set it right.” There’s some glimmer of hope in there, or, maybe, more sharp critique. Perhaps, it’s naïve to believe anything one does can change the arc of history, but moments of optimism give a hopeful feeling of possibility.
The album concludes with two excellent musical statements. Continuing in their unpredictable nature, “Scared” includes a breakdown with tasteful acoustic guitar. If the listener is not paying attention, they may wonder how such a musical turn came about. This feeling is compounded by a nearly unexpected turn into personal searching questions and thought, “There’s nothing more brave than to love/and I’m scared.” This sad expression of personal failings or trepidation plays repeatedly into noise.
At this point of album closer “Do Not Reply,” the listener is ready for the unexpected, but the melodic nature of the driving punk rhythm and hook are truly delightful, and, again, nearly unforeseen. It even drifts into goth-punk territory with deep, obscured vocal sounds. When the rhythm and hook play out the album, to lyrics like “corporations are people,” it’s apparent the group has delightfully reached its goal. As serious as this music may sound, pulling back a few layers, there’s humor and fun to be had.