Mercury-nominated British art-rock band Wild Beasts released their fifth album, Boy King, in 2016. The four-piece, led by frontmen Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming, are known for their knotty, complicated lyrics addressing modern masculinity, sex, love and fear. They are currently on the Boy King world tour.
(Photo credit: Tom Andrew)
As the seasons change and the end of the year creeps near, we’ve asked our contributors to pick their favorite lyrics of 2016 — so far.
— Brenna Ehrlich, Talkhouse Music Editor-in-Chief
“When I come home from these long trips and set my shit down on the floor/I’d have a number from some girl from Singapore or Shanghai/And when I’d call her she’d ask if I had Twitter or Skype and I’d lay down on my bed and I’d wanna fucking die.”
— Jesu/Sun Kil Moon, “A Song of Shadows,” Jesu/Sun Kil Moon
Save for the sections in the Jesu/Sun Kil Moon record where Mark Kozelek reads fan letters (absolutely essential listening, BTW), I really like this passage in “A Song of Shadows.” It beautifully captures the self-loathing of being the big man on tour and the small man when you’re finished. Self-loathing manhood is something of a pet subject of our band as well, and pretty much every Sun Kil Moon record is a Rolls Royce example. Much as I’m always looking for transcendence or something truly beautiful, it’s very comforting to be reminded that sometimes we all have to wade through the shit to find it.
(Art credit: Dan Schmatz)
