Korean Boyfriend’s Noisy New Wave Post-Punk Single “Middle Management” Perfectly Captures the Existential Dread and Melancholic Exhilaration of Occupying the Liminal Role on the Corporate Ladder

Korean Boyfriend’s “Middle Management” pulses and seethes with a low key desperate energy. With a driving, melodic bass line anchoring the song the layered synths are at once noisy and sounding like a lo-fi recording of melancholic yet upbeat synthpop from another era. The vocals aren’t buried in the mix so much as engulfed by the flow of noises including the minimalist, accented percussion. As the title of the song suggests the song seems to comment on that phenomenon of corporate work life of the figures who are simultaneously expected to enforce company policy and take ownership of dealing with situations that are above the pay grade of lower tier workers while not always empowered to actually enact a solution to challenges presented. Essentially they are the second layer of protection leadership enjoys from the consequences of a company’s mediocre product—whether physical or services. The song captures that feeling of constant tension and stress and existential dread of being in middle management and knowing what’s possible and what’s likely for customers and the people working under them and questioning the efficacy of having so much operational responsibility without adequate compensation. The spectral keyboard work in the background establishes a spirit of unease and faint hope and the tapestry of rhythms that interact throughout the song creates a feeling of having entered into an otherworldly zone outside of regular time and space yet the song never comes off bleak, but, instead, expressing compassion and solidarity toward an experience many of us have had or at least witnessed as we navigate the impersonal, late capitalist landscape of trying to survive. Listen to “Middle Management” on Spotify and follow Korean Boyfriend on Instagram. His new album Simple Face is out October 25, 2024.