I don’t know. What if they are?
That’s the question that arose when I began listening to Screaming Females‘ second album, What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.? for the first time. Let’s see if a trip through this blistering, wailing, shredding, and sometimes tender album can provide an answer.
“Theme Song” starts the album with Marissa Paternoster‘s guitar sounding like something you’d hear blasting from the Mach-5 as it whizzes by you. The song goes from post-punk to pure punk power by the end, which makes one think the album is going to be full of this same energy if the opening track is, after all, the theme song of the album. Lyrics such as “You are always talking and you never stop.” and “I am a victim of the general public.” certainly fit in with the theme of death by television.
That thought turns out to be correct, because “The Real Mothers” doesn’t let up on Paternoster’s vocal fury ((“The cost of killing is free.”), and “Humanity Arranged” doesn’t let up on Mike Abbatte‘s funky bass riffs. Drummer Jarrett Dougherty puts down some of his best chops on “Starve the Beat” – a track (about good and bad memories of youth) that has the great low key / heavy thrash swerve that Screaming Females do like no other band I know. Paternoster’s solo on it is one of her best.
“Little Anne,” a lovely song about love, lets us catch our breath, and makes us wonder if perhaps the answer to the album title’s question is that many will miss out on love right in front of them if they’re too busy with distractions. “Fun” is a song about moving on from death (of a loved one, or our own) with Abbatte and Dougherty swinging a great groove for over three straight minutes.
“Limbs” is the only song to mention television in it, and the lyrics “When you keep a fight, I pass your room at night, pinned to the brain, birthed the insane, set your TV live.” bring to mind images of Paternoster looking for some kind of solace while someone else is zoned out watching trash TV. The song has a slightly creepy vibe to it that makes it a standout.
“I will tear the heads off this culture,” Paternoster proclaims on “Pedro.” A bold statement in 2007, and even bolder now as both sides of the political aisle claim to be, or at least desire, to be doing just that. Paternoster’s guitar deftly moves from garage to metal to psychedelic, making it sound easy.
“If mother knows best, then mother knows why,” Paternoster sings on “Mothership,” a fast track that includes handclaps among Dougherty’s sharp drumming. “My Earth’s gone flat and the sun burns sour.” All of this is happening while we’re scrolling through Netflix and Amazon watchlists we’ve created but never view. The closer, “Boyfriend,” is one of Screaming Females‘ greatest punk-as-fuck tracks as Paternoster sings / screams what could well be a real conversation she had at age nineteen about her sexuality and Abbatte and Dougherty go for broke as sets the damn studio on fire screaming “While you sit on the fence I will burn in hell.” over and over.
What is someone is watching their TV? My guess is that they run the risk of missing the present world around them, which includes passion and compassion. Screaming Females were warning us thirteen years ago that we were drifting away from each other and toward our screens. They were right, but this album can still shake you out of it. Turn off your TV. Listen to this album instead.
Keep your mind open.
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