The other day, I fell into a conversation between women on how to write more assertive emails. Weird, innit, how we shelf our own goals for the sake of modesty: “I think you’ll like this, sorry to intrude, if you could just spare three minutes.” Sure, you can say that’s just PR writing for ya, an abstract objective distanced from actual expression, anyway. But the way we communicate never ends with a single exchange; when erasing your ego on the internet becomes a reflex instead of courtesy, that mentality trickles down. “I think I’m OK, don’t mind me, I’m just a little sad right now.”

Whenever Anna Staddon says “I’ll let you decide if I’m all right,” she taps a nerve in me. I think about all those emails, and every chick I’ve ever seen with a squeaky voice and a fake laugh. Do they even know how much they compress themselves? I think about the lattice of rhetoric that surrounds my own inner turmoil, phrases like ‘safety net’ and ‘white privilege’ and ‘solipsism.’ The mailman never believes me when I’m depressed: “you’ve still got that new car, don’t you?”

Sorry. This hasn’t anything to do with Athens’ brushstroke samurais Saline, or their upcoming album, or the terrifying thrill of this single. Or does it? The lyrics pierce through a college-born fever dream, the ritualistic panic attack of adolescence, and so I’m never sure what’s happening in any given Saline song—but perhaps that’s the point. Earnest communication is always a struggle, and so earnest art would reflect that. And I’m happy to let Saline guide me through that particular sea, or at least remind me that I’m not the only one trying to chart a course.

Filmed live at the Pity Party in Athens, “Hair of the Rat” is taken from Saline’s upcoming LP, you did it to yourself, out Apr. 13 via Perfect Attendance Records. Pre-orders are available here.

Saline will celebrate the release of you did it to yourself on Sat., Apr. 21 at the Caledonia Lounge with Nihilist Cheerleader and Scooterbabe. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $5-7. 18+ to enter.

More Info
Bandcamp: saline1.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @salineATH