Listen to James Murphy Rant About Youth On LCD Soundsystem’s New Song “tonite”
LCD Soundsystem have released the third single off of their much anticipated comeback album American Dream. Just a few weeks ago LCD Soundsystem released the somewhat light-hearted looking album artwork and vinyl pre-order for the new album. The artwork seems to entail a more upbeat theme to the record but according to James Murphy (on an episode of “The Best Show”) this feeling from the first two songs (and subsequently the album cover) are “slightly misleading.”
This new song, “tonite”, may be what Murphy was talking about here. While the beat is generally more dancey and upbeat the lyrics are darker than “call the police” and “american dream”. Murphy starts off singing “I never realized these artists thought so much about dying” and goes on to sing about how musicians seem to come to grips with the inevitability of death. The lyrics also seem to inadvertently criticize these feelings as pop bullshit as Murphy sings “All the hits are saying the same thing/There’s only tonight, tonight… ” These feelings are being used in society to perpetuate the Yolo culture. The rest of the lyrics pertain to all the manifestation of this idea in society through “hobbled veterans” and “embarrassing pictures” that “have now all been deleted.” Murphy seems to object to the traditional “live while you’re young” mentality with the sarcasm in the lines “But truth be told we all have the same end/Could make you cry, cry, cry, cry, cry” and “life is finite/But shit it feels like forever.”
The instrumentation is laced with standard LCD Soundsystem’s unique blend of Dance and Rock that is similar in structure to “Get Innocuous.” The various instruments and sounds that slowly creep into the song over time helps to build up the lyrics. I think that the instrumentation reinforces the meaning of the lyrics to another degree. The instrumentation in the song itself feels like a club-dance anthem that would also perpetuate the Yolo attitudes. Such a nuanced view on popular culture is what you would expect from a band with the caliber of LCD Soundsystem and I can't wait for September 1st.
Happy Jamming!
Listen to the Song on Spotify:
Listen to the Song on Apple Music:
