Music Review // Nameless Friends "There's a rapist in the White House / Mary"

https://namelessfriends.bandcamp.com/album/theres-a-rapist-in-the-white-house

  The only thing I really want to say about this song politically is that I want historians to take note that the majority of the people standing up to the rapist in the White House are women.  It feels like I could write a book about the current state of the United States, so I'm happy artists such as Nameless Friends are addressing it with this song "There's a rapist in the White House", which is 100% true if you do a little research.  Through bass lines and a sound like pop rock we have the message of "The cops just watched 19 more children shot".   It isn't enough that there is this one felon in power who shouldn't be, it just feels like everything is upside down.

While this song expresses that immediate commentary on what is happening, with lines such as: "I've been having nightmares that the American state loves violent men / And that's why we helped one rape his way to the top" it also seems to discuss how these events could impact us in the long term.  This is something I don't really consider, when you just want this nightmare to end, but lyrics such as "It does something to you to watch institutions fail" show how that eventual future might still leave us with a bad taste in our mouths.

Now I am fully aware that titling a song "There's a rapist in the White House" will set off a certain amount of people, though they are the minority in this country.  All I have to say to that is: GOOD.  If you're upset by the title and content of this song, then maybe Nameless Friends aren't for you and maybe you shouldn't be on this site either.  In fact, if you do support the rapist in the White House there is a good chance that you also belong in jail.

That being said, Nameless Friends has a second song to go along with this one called "Mary".  It's such an interesting song that feels less like it's verse/chorus/verse and more like it's just in two acts.  It begins with the lyrics: "I didn't intend to inherit violence so I keep it in / I kept it in" and a nice bass line.   This kicks in like Pearl Jam, Porno For Pyros, Strega Dada or even a little Sweet Pill.  The second half of the song is music so this is more music than lyrics and it's just one of those songs that I enjoy because it challenges convention.

I also must note how important it is that Nameless Friends titled their song "There's a rapist in the White House".  In a time when we need to all be speaking up more, it's so very reassuring that this song doesn't leave anything to the imagination- there are no lyrics to be thought of in a certain way, it's all just written out for you directly.   This feels as important for us now as it does for the future and I hope more artists take note.