Deaf Mute Society - Ordinary Strange
Edinburgh five-piece Death Mute Society (DMS) are John Keenan (vocals)
Mikey Robertson (guitars), Jen Bain (keyboards), Euan Mushet (bass) and
Callum Saint (drums).
DMS normally give us energetic, dynamic, make you want to dance tunes. However the forthcoming release of new single Ordinary Strange is far removed from their successful formula…and with good reason!
When asked about the different direction the band commented:
This song was written prior to the pandemic but we feel like it speaks volumes to the current situation. All of us are adjusting to this strange new reality that is life under lockdown with varying degrees of success. Key workers, many of whom are on minimum wage/zero hours contracts are forced to work around the clock to keep the rest of the world going. State sanctioned payouts to businesses owned by tax-evading billionaires are seriously being considered while health services which have been underfunded for years are forced to rely on the charity of people whose age range is in triple digits. Protests and acts of aggression are gaining momentum across the globe. These are fuelled by misinformation campaigns that have steadily been building over the past several years. Truly we are all a little strange.
Ordinary Strange kicks off almost feeling like it’s an acoustic track with subtle keys and strummed guitars and a chillingly haunting vocal it paints the picture of the strange times we live in, especially with the opening lines “working in a slave trade making minimum wage, fourteen hours shift with a half hour break” and continues the theme later on when they sing of “dancing round in circles trying to break from the norm, hold me close against your skin and we can ride this storm”.
Musically it feels almost industrial with lots of reverb and fuzzy instrumentation painting a real picture of the bleakness being told in the story, this is captured in the chorus which sings “yes I need to start a riot I’m going to make a change, stand back from the fire don’t question the desire, we are all a little strange all a little strange yeah” before the track finally fades out with what sounds like a distorted alarm !!
Ordinary Strange is a completely different vibe from DMS but it’s a fantastic track, summing up the strange times that we live in with a political message about the unfairness of society and government actions.
It deserves a lot of attention, get this on your playlists it’s perfect isolation music when you need to reflect on what should matter in society.
Give Ordinary Strange a stream now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0Pak42m7hk4gE4n21iBOvf?si=N9-hQz50TEKWDBIHrVisaw
The official video for Ordinary Strange can be viewed below:
DMS can be followed on Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify:
https://www.facebook.com/dmsscotland/
https://instagram.com/dmspx?igshid=15rz1n0uorrgo
https://open.spotify.com/artist/794akQ5jft02QMv4CdL3p3?si=m5ZRzatzSyeuEUC6hDT2TQ