The Bandcamp page for Charm School‘s debut EP, Finite Jest, says the record “…is dedicated to complicated, heart-crushingly-too-real jokes everywhere.” I’m not certain if the jokes mentioned are actual spoken word jokes, or a reference to people that lead singer and songwriter Andrew Sellers thinks of as jokes. Either way, it’s a fairly accurate way to describe the EP.
It’s a grungy, sweaty post-punk record. “Non Fucking Stop” references people who don’t stop not stopping (“You’re owned by your phone.” / “Hair cut like you wanna be a big rock star, posting your image everywhere here and far.”). The guitar solo screams rage and frustration. “Simulacra” is a similar theme. The world itself references copies of things that never existed in the first place. “Speculate on speculation,” Sellers sings while attitude-filled bass thumps roll along behind him.
“Year of the Scorpion” builds and builds in volume, fuzz, and energy over its course with Sellers warning people that “it won’t get any better” and that “A scorpion’s going to do what a scorpion does.”, letting us know that first impressions of people are often correct and trying to force them to change always results in you being stung.
“Face Spiter” calms down a bit, with the guitars playing with shoegaze riffs here and there. The song seems to be about how easy it is to plunge into self-destruction in order to be noticed (“Too calculated, an ego inflated.”). The ending title track begins with marching song-like snare hits and then adds boot-stomping guitar chords to the mix. Seller’s vocals are almost spoken word mantras. “What you say is not what you say,” he says / sings, reminding someone of their duplicity while the guitars buzz like bees, or perhaps hornets. Again, more things that can sting you.
The whole EP stings at people who put on false fronts in order to appear happier than they are or superior to others when they’re secretly miserable. It’s a joke that will have a harsh, finite end for them, either in death or, in some ways worse, being revealed for who they are. They’re doing all they can to make the finite jest infinite, not realizing that ending the charade would reveal a truth so simple that they’d be laughing at the ridiculousness of the illusion they created.
Yeah. All that in just five songs.
Keep your mind open.
[I’ll be charmed if you subscribe.]
[Thanks to Alex at Terrorbird Media.]
