Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Having an artistic connection is everything in a band, and this is especially true of rock n’ roll groups. If it’s not there, and more importantly, if it’s not real, the audience can tell – take The Sextape’s latest single, “Queen of the Fools.” With a lot of focus coming from outside the Russian underground,
The Sextape is a group that has learned how to connect with their listeners since first getting put in the spotlight, and “Queen of the Fools,” despite its jarring guitars and aesthetical rebelliousness, is in many ways an intimate ode to the commonality in hard rock that supersedes elements like borders and linguistics. This hasn’t been the easiest era for the genre, but this track’s chaotic grooves perhaps reflect the discord of this present gen in a way that simple verses never could have. Cohesive with their earlier works but boldly forward-thinking from a compositional perspective, this band’s most recent effort is a look into the future through the lens of the past, and it’s compelling enough to justify a lot of attention from indie and mainstream outlets alike this summer.
The lyrical theme in this track centers on the present instead of the past, but it’s not specifically tethered to one subject over another. There’s as much of a political message in “Queen of the Fools” as there is a bit of self-awareness and a commentary on the fear that many experience simply by looking outside and seeing the state of the world as it is in 2023, but all of it is uniquely multi-interpretive.
The vocal tends to be a little louder in the mix than it needed to have been to drive the point home to us, but I suppose I can appreciate what The Sextape was trying to pull off here. Making the guitars the main source of the grooves in this song takes some of the pressure away from the singer in terms of making the narrative as effective as it can be. The music video for “Queen of the Fools” is cut and dry, leaving all of the useless bells and whistles often adorning such content on the sidelines – where they inarguably belong.
Despite mounting examples of their peers conforming to a new way of doing business in rock n’ roll lately, The Sextape continue to be individuals in “Queen of the Fools,” and that’s the biggest reason why I would deem their new release a must-listen for hard rock fans right now. As previously noted, their work is already getting a ton of buzz both in and outside of the usual circles, and for rock critics like myself, a fierce release structured in the fashion this cut was is a boon to fans, to say the least. This isn’t The Sextape’s first rodeo, but even with all of the competition they still face this summer, they’re maintaining a swaggering attitude that suggests they’re going to be in this rock n’ roll game for a long time to come.
Lloyd Bear
