Squeeze anyone hard enough and eventually they crack. That’s a recurring theme in just about every cop show and crime saga ever assembled, from Dragnet to the Departed. So if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of that vice, your best chance it to play it smooth and keep your cool. Or so the thinking goes, anyway. With any luck you’ll come out aces like this ragged garage jam from Athens luminaries Deep State. To be sure, “Under the Gun” sprints along with feverish intensity, with plenty of revved-up riffs and shout-along vocals to keep the needle buried firmly in the red.
Still, despite its floor-on-the-floor fervor, the lead single from the group’s forthcoming LP The Path to Fast Oblivion isn’t a celebration of resilience and emotional fortitude. Instead, the song asks the listener: what if we want the accused to snap? As the band recently explained to Substream Magazine, “Under the Gun” takes for its subject “A man who has lost touch, yet is extremely narcissistic, only notices colors, inanimate objects, entitlement, hateful underneath it all. Faced with any pressure, denies accountability for anything.” So, yeah, that veil of triumph embedded in the track is exactly that—an obscuring shroud meant to mask something darker. It’s a lot to dig into when all you want to do is soak in the revelry and pump your fists, but that’s what makes Deep State such a potent force to begin with.
Listen below.
The Path to Fast Oblivion is out Feb. 1, 2019 through Friendship Fever.
Deep State will perform on Wed., Dec. 12 at 529 alongside Swearin’ and Dark Thoughts. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $12 in advance or $14 at the door. 21+ to enter.
More Info
Basecamp: deepstate.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @deepstatega
Instagram: @deeepstate
SoundCloud: @deeepstate