by Jonah Evans (@jonahinthesnow)
The Armed perpetuate a sense of loneliness, performativity, and chaos on their new EP, Everlasting Gaze. This isn’t necessarily removed from their catalog, though the three remixes of “Sport Form” leave ears ringing with the lyrics “Does anybody know you? Does anyone even care?” With the variety of using hopeless lyrics like “Failure, relentless, in unending waves—” on the song “Puzzler,” and satirical lyrics like “All my words profound,” and “I have every answer” in “NEW! Christianity,” the EP renders a potency of the disorder we live in during the increasing self-reliance and self-existence through digital media. The fact that they had IDLES, Water From Your Eyes, and Model/Actriz do remixes of “Sport Form” exemplifies how The Armed want to disrupt these streamlined existences we’re sinking into, if not at least question it. Remixes are intentional disruptions.
The first song, “Puzzler,” starts with vocals and piano at the same time. The voice is shallow with a little reverb. The piano is tapping slowly at first, and when the chorus comes, it cascades over itself, oscillating relative notes while going down a scale, creating a falling sensation. The verse is repeated twice; both times it ends, the cascading piano happens clearly. The verse is “Dents in your pride… / Failure, Relentless. / In unending waves— / It finds me again. / I’m one of the crowd / But I know I’m not playing alone...” The verse plays over itself (because it repeats twice) like the piano does, creating the gravity and the song’s powerful sensation. How it repeats “Everyone’s hoping to see me off” over and over for the second half drives “Puzzler” home. Along with the thumping of the drum, some dissonant layered sounds (obscured from being able to be identified as backing vocals), and sound effects, there is a small sense of hope in all the despair.
The Armed never stay in that space for long as “NEW! Christianity” starts with explosive, breakneck drums. There is an almost bubblegum pop feeling with bright and, most often, tandem singing by two vocalists with a kind of strong wispiness. After the second verse, another voice enters, screaming almost indiscernibly, and this contrast is part of what makes The Armed so good at what they do, which is to enter the dissaray of what this world is. Even when the two voices are calm, you still want to bang your head because the drums are just thrashing, sometimes hitting the double bass, blurring the lines between beats and clarifying pure energy. That goes for the screaming voice, too.
The energy is carried directly into “Martyr Song," with more pronounced, raspy, clean vocals from Tony Wolski being one of the clearer differences. The song actually feels like a continuation of “NEW! Christianity,” but there is a difference. There are many moments that change the rhythm and tone of this song; different instruments pronounce themselves at various moments. The guitar is vivid and powerful as it works through mini solos. Then the vocals have a moment where they start, and then the drums coat the ears as the song highlights each instrument. They eventually come together to build and run towards the same thing after an escalation of thrashing; all focusing on one singular moment of clarity (the bridge at minute 2:15). The saxophone sneaks in increments at the three minute mark and everything escalates. Melodies collide, screaming erupts, drums become relentless, and the saxophone becomes murderous, trilling, and punishing. It’s easy to forget the moment when everything began, and it's wonderful.
The song “Sport Form” is fun, hopeful, and hopeless in all of its forms. The original version is on The Armed’s most recent album, Perfect Saviors — Iggy Pop stars in the music video. Remixed by Water From Your Eyes, Model/Actriz and IDLES, it’s interesting how many other artists are involved in the formation and expression of this sonically exploratory song because the track itself is an acute aberration of composition. Perhaps it’s an emphasis on that idea if anything. The most compelling, sad, and essential part of this song is the repetitive lyrics: “Does anyone even know you? / Does anyone even care?” It comes in halfway through the original, but it stars for the primary lyrics of the three remixes. The variation in which each artist interprets the song is pleasing. The Water From Your Eyes remix has head bopper, foot-tapping, club-dancing, walk-fast, I got somewhere to be vibes. The Model/Actriz remix is so dreamy, even with birds chirping. It’s peaceful, calming, and feels safe, like floating in a tube down a river of clear water with a diamond-studded riverbed glistening bright under blue skies. The IDLES version has extenuated versions of the lyric “care” in the beginning, electronic distortion of seemingly all of the instruments along with the primary lyrics, and a kind of jungle-beat, leaving much of the original version unclear, which is great.
In an interview on Q with Tom Power, when talking about the final lyrics of “Sport Form,” Wolski says, “is sorta like, the end question to everything for so many people, and that’s uhh, a bummer.” What's great about this EP is that they hit that point home by repeating this through other bands and continue their disruptive, energetic, melodic sounds and form music that matches our reality. In the same interview, Wolski also said, “the religiosity of subscribing to subgenre rings of inauthenticity,” and The Armed have continued to create music that chooses not to perform; instead, they decide to be a vessel of the chaos, the interconnectedness we all share, and the difficulty we have to see each other while attempting to perform for each other.