Claire
StephenPolitics are slowly moving into song lyrics, as artists wrestle with the chaotic and seemingly imbalanced world that they find themselves in and attempt to put words and sounds to common emotions and experiences. The Montreal-based band Handsome Furs recently released their newest record Sound Kapital, including the wonderful “what about us.” Here are the opening lyrics:
There are an army of thieves, who have everything they need
But what about us, what about us
There are thousands to feed, so hard to believe
But what about us, what about us
Because it’s time after time, that we are stuck behind the line
What about us, what about us
And that woman in defeat, is forced into the street
So what about us, what about us
In a recent interview with Stereogum, Scott Coffey of the Handsome Furs (and an actor who appeared in Mullhulland Drive) answers some questions about this song:
STEREOGUM: Where did you shoot the clip?
SC: It was all shot in Portland, Oregon in the cold and rain. But that’s good for nipple boners.
STEREOGUM: What’s the video’s overall concept? It’s suggestive, but mysterious. Is the plot specific to “What About Us” or the album as a whole?
SC: I love this record. There is an amazing haunting and yearning quality to all the Handsome Furs songs, but they’re hopeful and full of heart at the same time. Dan Boeckner’s voice, to me, is full of mourn and yearning for freedom. So I was thinking about the entire record a lot when I was making the video. This song seemed to really sum up the themes of the record. Now what do we do in a ruined world? We can fuck and dance, but what do we do when we’re all danced and fucked out? Hold onto each other! Maybe that’s how we can start to save ourselves. I’m not a hippie, I swear. But I think the record is dripping in empathy and questioning freedom and feeling … and I hope I captured some of that in the video. I wanted it to feel narrative but work with the logic of a dream.
Watch the video “What About Us” :
The Fault Line 
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