If Wieuca have a calling card, it’s that you never know quite what to expect. The group’s last EP, 2018’s Local Celebrity, was a heady display of musical shape-shifting that reaffirmed the band’s status as experimental chameleons. Since then, the local foursome have released a string of singles that continue to obliterate the boundaries between genres. But while Wieuca’s music has embraced a plurality of sounds, thematically it has tended to coalesce around similar topics. So it’s no surprise that the group’s new single finds itself examining American power structures and the existential desperation they often cause.
Merging redneck rap with twang-pop eclecticism, “Man of the House” is a sardonic anthem about shifting masculine norms. The song’s protagonist is a father in the classic American mold, clinging to his self-appointed role as head-of-household even as his wife and kids expose his powerlessness. Rather than evolve, he doubles down on his beliefs until all he has left to control are the TV and the yard. Overall, it feels like a sharp skewering of suburban dad tropes, but Wieuca are clear to point out their intended target is far broader.
“This isn’t a shot at middle America, the suburbs, or boomers; just a familiar setting to place him in,” the band writes in a press release. “We’re all guilty of simplified thinking and misplaced responsibility. We’re all the man of the house.”
Shot and edited by Goodie of Athens hip-hop collective The YOD, the video stars Atlanta comedian Matt Tyler as the unwitting father trapped in a prison of his own making. While he drinks beer and circles the yard in his riding mower, his daughter mocks him to her friends and his wife cheats on him with a neighbor. It’s a pathetic existence by any standard, but so long as the illusion of power is maintained, all is right with the world.
Watch/listen above.
Wieuca will perform on Fri., March 6 at 529 alongside Chick Wallace, Heffner, and Hi-Rise. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10. 21+ to enter.
More Info
Web: wieucamusic.com
Bandcamp: wieuca.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @wieucaband
Instagram: @wieucallc
SoundCloud: @wieuca
Twitter: @wieucaLLC