Turtlenecked – “Boys Club”
Let’s be clear: Nothing about our country has changed between Tuesday night and today. The racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and hate that made Donald Trump the President were always there; the results just made that reality starkly apparent. When I agreed to premiere the song below a few weeks ago, I imagined (or at least hoped against hope) that we’d all be in different spirits come post-election. It’s not that a Hillary Clinton win would signal an end to this country’s deep, systemic problems — far from it — but it would be a tiniest step in some right direction, and now it feels like we’ve all taken a big leap down into a fiery hell pit.
But here we are, and at least we still have powerful music to help contextualize all of the pain we’re feeling. Turtlenecked’s “Boys Club” — from the prolific Portland-based project’s next full-length Lepers, a follow-up to this year’s Pure Plush Bone Cage — sees Harrison Smith rallying against the patriarchal institutions that helped Trump hold this country’s highest office via making in-roads in his own music scene: “When I’m stalking the streets like a scarecrow/ My mouth is a vulture when it should be velcro,” he sings. “Oh, this pale indie bro trash pile/ I will be the king of it/ If the game is for gold diggers, then I’ll put a ring on it.” It’s forceful posturing from the disenfranchised, and it deserves to be played loud and on repeat.
Proceeds from the single, which you can purchase here, will go towards Planned Parenthood. Listen to it below.
Lepers is out next April via Good Cheer Records.