On Desaparecidos debut album Read Music / Speak Spanish, frontman Conor Oberst sang, “I want to pledge allegiance to the country where I live/ I don’t want to be ashamed to be American.” Thirteen years later, he and the rest of the Omaha-based rock band are still struggling with the shades of grey that colour American life. The band’s second LP Payola plays out like a logbook of Uncle Sam’s failures and the frustrations that come with them.
Recorded over the course of five years, Payola takes listeners on a trip through the land of the free, making pit stops in gun crazed, racially charged, war frothed and currency-driven America. On opener, The Left is Right, Oberst’s voice is brimming with hostility as he spits out rallying cries like, “It begins when we chain ourselves to the ATMs” and “take our baseball bats to the limousines.”
While the LP’s lyricism veers away from flowery verse, evidence of Oberst’s lyrical talent are abundant throughout, with Shakespearean allusions to the founding fathers (City on the Hill) and metaphorical references to the most coked-out frat house in the northeast, Wall Street (Golden Parachutes). The latter features an appearance from Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace, which makes for a delightful two minutes of bull stoning.
The most flammable lines on Payola are not so much calls to arms, but astute observations of day-to-day life. On Radicalized, Oberst sings, “Can’t afford no dream without a GED/ The recruiter shakes my brother’s hand/ Now he’s all he can be.” Later, Slacktivist assumes the persona of a bedroom activist, comically narrating a keyboard tapping 20-something, “Cleaning out my closet to make amends/ Send a Nike swoosh to an African.” But, although Payola is more or less a summation of MSNBC newscasts,it never becomes submerged in its lyrical fury, with bright instrumentation relieving the pressure that builds with every track.
Having taken thirteen years to hone their skills and mature not only as artists, but political activists, it’s difficult to fault Desaparecidos’ sophomore effort. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Payola lies in the bleak observation that they’ll probably still have cause to write songs about these issues in thirteen years time.
BY LAUREN GILL
