Vases Makes the Fall of America’s Fake Meritocracy Seem Like a Dream Come True on “Comfort Creature”

Vases, photo courtesy the artist

When “Comfort Creature” by Vases starts out with its headlong pace and introspective vocals reminiscent of Beach Fossils or the better end of The Strokes, you’d be excused for not expecting some fairly heady political commentary. The fluid traces of the main guitar riff sounds like something one might better expect out of an indie pop band influenced by The Smiths but Ty Baron comes in with very direct and poetically rendered lines critical of the fake system of inherited meritocracy that poisons all levels of American and really most of world society and convinces most people they’re more worthy than they are just because they’ve enjoyed privilege all their lives. But Baron takes this content further and points to the culture’s “fetish for the young and all their creature comforts” as if when you’re past a certain age you have nothing to contribute to the world and should just get to some place of complacency in a career doing exactly what these days? Maybe mainstream media and “moderate” politicians haven’t been paying attention but that façade crumbled for most people decades ago but now the fallout is eroding and shattering corrupt institutions, unspoken and official, and too many corners of society are resisting going to a better place and too willing to crawl over others to hold on to the splintered remnants of these rungs on which they’ve been hanging for years unexamined and crying out in disbelief when people are demanding more than crumbs, glass ceilings and diminished expectations out of a world where a very few get everything and most have to scramble for perilously little. Maybe Baron isn’t quite as dire than that and his lyrics are far more elegant and personal than all of that but this song is a taste of his forthcoming Vases album that promises to be brimming with similarly vital political content. Listen to “Comfort Creature” on Soundcloud and follow Vases on Instagram linked below.

Vases on Instagram

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Author: simianthinker

Editor, primary content provider for this blog. Former contributor to Westword and The Onion.