As arresting as a montage of an adolescent male ripping apart an innocent crème de la crème cushion hailing from the temple of Scandinavia, the whole scene is cathartic. What The Con & The Liar have done in their new vid for Drummers & Lovers is channel a quiet, simmering (‘justified’) rage at the perverse occurrences in daily life that have been rife in our midst, they have been oh so on the down low, shimmying just inside our subliminal.
The Con & The Liar, legends of the people, have created a video that tips into something real dip in our psyche. It’s all quiet, simmering rage.
As main laddy Mad McBloody Spewin’ reacts to all manner of trivial but grievous daily inconveniences, The Con & The Liar tap into something we’ve all been trying to suppress, in the sense that, while convention, principle and implicit societal expectations have constrained your behaviour thus, that you must bury your wretched pain at an empty milk carton being put back in the fridge, again, someone is actually getting their froth on and bloody venting the rage that is churning all up in that place.
Radiating throughout the vid is solid, undeniable truth. We have all been exactly in the shoes of the pro-antagonist. The perpetually late friend, the conniving family member in monopoly, the lactose lusting housemate, the purposely disappointing scratchie card and the pedestrian. That. Could. Not. Walk. Any. Slower. We’ve been the rage guy, we’ve had to shoulder all those feels and we haven’t been able to flip that table. Rip that cushion. Make, it, bloody rain, monopoly money. And he does. He follows it all. Every last impulse.
And to be blessed with such accommodating friends. It is a wonder to behold. The monopoly game turns a sour corner. Your hopes of owning Mayfair place are dashed. You are never to be the aloof, envied and opulent land owner. The injustice of it all boils over and slam. The game is finished. By your hand. You have wiped its existence from reality. And the rather passive friends sit by and calmly allow the hundred dollar bills to float wispily down. Fair enough, so they should, they’ve taken Mayfair from you for the last time. There will now be consequences.
Sans vid, Drummers & Lovers is a tight track that mimics the tight feels that are burgeoning and blistering in a young millennial’s soul. It’s a human journey, a relatable one. The sizzling guitar hooks, crisp as pork crackling bass and pinch of psychedelic echo-y voice is real nice and real riling, in a filthy good way.
Yet when push comes to shoving the point right along, it must be said that there’s something about that slow-mo. Particularly, there’s something about someone losing their absolute shit in slow-mo. Every angry crease in the forehead, each chaotic projectile of spit, every blood curdling howl of righteous anguish, all there, in minute, raw detail, for us to gawk at, commiserate with or flee from. Take your pick.
The Con & The Liar will be drumming up his lovers and others on the 19th of May at the Empire Hotel Annandale. Supported by stellar haunting muso Hannah Rosa and Noralyn. It’ll be a good one. Get going.
