There’s a punk energy seething from the teeth of the Portland-based indie rocker’s, Forty Feet Tall’s, latest single “We Can’t Go Back To Normal” that is utterly intoxicating. The relentless chanting of the song’s namesake, in particular, makes a perfect mantra as we find ourselves knee deep in the new year.
It’s the type of song that revels in catharsis, refusing to get sidetracked by the smoke and mirrors of the capitalist spectacle. This is encapsulated by the opening moment where the band blasts through a shroud of white noise with the rhythmic slashing of their power chords, cutting through it like a machete.
“This is our most blatantly political, angry song we’ve made.” The band writes. “Cole wrote the lyrics pretty freshly off of protests and it talks about very specific events that happened in Portland, as well as much broader problems that everyone experienced and continues to experience. We fell into this mantra, “we can’t go back to normal”, which seemed to synthesize it all into a sentence. Whatever so many of us considered “normal” was brutality.”
That brutality fashions itself well with a punk outlook as the song burns out fantastically in a gut-punching 2 and half minute making a fun ride out of this political thrashing. There is no time to look back at the carnage – keep your eyes on the path ahead and blaze forward headfirst and unapologetically.
“We Can’t Go Back To Normal” is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer. Find the track on our main Alchemical Spotify playlist.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
