Reviewing Fear of Men's "Luna" a week and a half ago, I was quick to point out the clear divisions the buzzing track had from traditional jangle-pop fair. Murky bass swirled in the background. Reverb obscured every corner of the once bright number. Lead-singer Jess Weiss sighed and delivered mid-song "oohs" more fit for the graveyard than the Billboard charts. Still, heard at the right angle or from a far-enough distance, you could easily mistake "Luna" for a sped-up slice of dream-pop.
Hearing "Outrun Me"'s opening swathe of feedback and stammering drums you know right away this isn't the stuff of dreams. It's night-time fare, but the sort you play while you writhe in your bed and worry about days past and future. Where you'll repeatedly insist "I've changed," as Weiss does in her angelic coo, even though evidence may say otherwise. Plenty of theories are posited as to why this writhing won't stop. "Genetic longing" is one possibility Weiss suggests underneath the foggy rhythm section. A loss of "common decency and sense of history" is another hypothesis that's formulated. "Love" is always a go-to explanation for why someone has hit a rough-patch. And while the four-letter word figures into Weiss' downcast state, the real reason is even simple. "You were my first one, the one that stopped my mind from leaving," Weiss explains. Losing your familiarity can be as nightmarish and devastating as anything.
As Gorilla vs. Bear is reporting, “Outrun Me” is the B-side from Fear of Men‘s Luna 5″ flexi-disc / 20-page zine, out April 7 on Art is Hard. The Brighton group's LP Loom is out April 8th through Kanine Records.
