SINKR - A History of Things to Come - 'The Cut'
SINKR is a Manchester-based blur of influences and genres, ranging from punk to shoegaze. “Defection“ and “Big Shot“ kick the album off with direct shots at authority, first in the general sense on “Defection,“ which calls out societal institutions, and then in a more individually focused, and altogether better effort, on “Big Shot.“ By the time “The Cut“ rolled, I found myself in much need of a change in subject, and some solid hooks. The wait was rewarded. The sound got bigger, the drums pounded harder, and the singer joined in after a stellar guitar slide/drum fill:
Here we go again now/ Everything is wrong/ Let's start the show again now/ All your friends are gone/ How did we know again/ That It would be this way/ We lose control again/ You got nothing left to say
Here's where the song confused me and left me thinking about two paths of intent and, in such, two completely different interpretations for the lyrics—one being this is a discussion between two friends, the other mere acquantainces. However, I am going to believe the narrator of the song completely and assume that all the friends are, indeed, gone. Why is this important, and why does it matter? Well, the next refrain contains the hook and is the entire crux of the song: Even though it's a simple refrain, I Hope You Make The Cut, because of the genre and feel of the song, I immediately suspect sarcasm. Maybe the second verse will clear things up:
I hear you say again you/ Got nothing left to prove/ Stand in my way again/ I got nothing left to lose/ Why did I waste my time just wishing you were dead?/ Why did I waste my mind just wishing you were dead.
After that second verse, my suspicion was proven correct, but it's more complicated than that. It's not a genuine 'hope' in any sense of the word, but an apathetic resolve that wishing harm on the narrator's target is no longer worth the effort and damage it does to himself. This is an important lesson for anyone to learn, when inside creeps hatred. The hooks ring out the rest of the song's 2:41 runtime and I ponder if there is some element of genuine well wishing on the singer's part. When all your friends are gone, and all you have are the shells of former rivalries, don't those become your new friends, by default? At least, potentially?
For fans of: The Ramones, Misfits, The Clash
-Emperor XIV