Mclusky – The World Loves Us and Is Our Bitch

At the recent urging of one highly refined otter, I recently sat down with the movie It’s a Disaster (2012). The plot follows a group of thirty-somethings as they sit down for a couples brunch. In the vein of dark comedies like In Bruges or TV series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, It’s a Disaster features a host of characters who, each in their own way, are not nice people. Said people are then thrown together in a tense situation so that a character study emerges.

Without spoling, I will say that the lack of sympathy you feel towards the characters turns out to be something of an advantage when they are abruptly cast into the opening moments of a small-scale apocalypse. Confronted with their immenent demise, the characters unravel in a variety of ways—some amusing, some distrubing, and some suprisingly believable.

It’s a Disaster

At it’s core, It’s a Disaster is about how, when strained, romantic relationships have a tendancy to breakdown in nasty and exceedingly unpleasant ways. In fact, I can’t recall seeing a movie this down on romance since 2004′s Closer. Unlike that film, however, It’s a Disaster has bit more fun with the players involved, taking a snarkier, albeit nihilistic, tone.

It lead me to thinking about Mclusky. Known for their wit as much as their vitriol, Mclusky could have been a perfect candidate to populate the film’s soundtrack (were it not for their willfully abrasive sound, that is). Or, more likely, the movie’s events could have been the premise for one of Mclusky’s songs.

“The World Loves Us and Is Our Bitch” might be the best example of how the themes of the film intersect with Mclusky’s MO. The lyrics from the tracks closing moments sum it up perfectly:

Accidents happen where the rain won’t go
God is a colour that we can’t let go
And faith is admission that we just can’t win
And we are just a part of this
And we are just a part of this
Relatives matter when your legs don’t work
KY KY STD
Alcohol matters when you can’t be free
And love is eternal ’til it isn’t anymore
Love is eternal ’til it isn’t anymore
Love is eternal ’til it isn’t anymore
Love is eternal ’til it isn’t anymore
I try to cry but I’m just too tall
I try to cry but I’m just too tall
Cos accidents happen where the rain won’t go
Accidents happen where the rain won’t go

“Love is eternal ’til it isn’t anymore” stands as the song’s most obvious indictment. But, for me, “Accidents happen where the rain won’t go” is the far more interesting and, relative to the themes of the movie, fitting line. In a literal sense, houses shelter us from the rain but when relationship go sour a house can become an awful place. In It’s a Disaster the house becomes something like a prison. For Mclusky, the house is more like a crime scene. It’s the place where all of the worst parts of ourselves cozy up and become real.

At the end of the day, I feel much the same way about Mclusky’s music as I do about It’s a Disaster. Namely, that both are really on to something about human nature. At the same time, what they pick up on is so fundamentally unpleasant that sometimes the best way in is through some well calculated snark. If it weren’t funny, it’d be downright depressing.

Comments are closed.