Dog-eared as one to watch for their driving guitars and politically focused songwriting, Irish garage-punk trio ADORE are back with their sweetly scathing new single ‘Supermum!’. The track will have you dancing around – until you realise what it’s all about. And by that point, you won’t want to sit back down quietly.
Carnivalesque guitar lines career and wheel around whilst lead singer Lara Minchin’s vocals cut through with incisive commentary on the pervasive nature of sexual assault and harassment. Aping the kind of crude, suggestive comments that are bartered and traded as social currency in clubs and on street corners, she sings “I’ve got something to show you” in a chorus that is as lively as it is chilling. The track’s raucous exterior infuses melody with hot, glowing rage, which works to underscore the bright lights, blurred vision approach to the issues at hand in a cutting marriage of sound and meaning.
The song’s satirical approach mimics the cavalier attitude that sexual violence is greeted with, translating horror into a shoulder shrug in a way that reflects society’s widespread inability to address issues head on. Joking about awful things has always been a way that people cope, but at what point does it cease being a useful way to get people talking, and start being something that undermines the issues at hand? This song aims to continue the conversation, bringing it to the forefront.
A playful spectacle, the song ultimately feels liberating; it’s time to shake off our niceties and say no when we want to say no. And if the lyrics of ‘Supermum!’ are right, and disagreeing really has become an art, then this song exemplifies the creative potential of that simmering rage.
Also Read: ADORE – Postcards
Photo by Paula (fnati.c)
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