Pain in the Yeahs Channels the Exhausting Demands of the Attention Economy Into the Upbeat Energy of Synthpop Single “Consumer”

Pain in the Yeahs, photo courtesy the artist

It’s pretty much impossible to escape being marketed to these days unless you’re willing to pay for the privilege with a subscription that isn’t presented as such. Pain in the Yeahs has zeroed in on the existential ennui that comes from being targeted and your insecurities and vulnerabilities exploited digitally by algorithms. It’s even hard to function or get through something even as basic as a doctor’s appointment without being asked for your feedback and told your opinion matters. It all feeds into the same dynamic that demands little bits of your life. James K. Ultra of Pain in the Yeahs sounds like he’s been through it all and as an artist the things you have to go through to get your creative work the attention it requires to flourish outside your immediate circle of friends. It can all wear you down and erode your spirit. But with a heavy and expertly cadenced rhythms and spiraling, spooky swirls of tone and Ultra’s every so slightly dissociated vocals born of an emotional exhaustion from the death spiral of late capitalism’s demands might be perceived to be a satire of how we’re all basically being eaten up by a thousand bites on our energy and attention daily and it is but it’s also an act of resistance to the whole process by making a banger of a single that reflects all of it back in vivid contrasts. Think something like “Cars” for the modern era. Listen to “Consumer” on Spotify and follow Pain in the Yeahs at the links below.