“Wild Violent” by Saintseneca
Wandering, wavering, golden.
BY QUINN MCCLURG
Let me preface this article by saying, statistically speaking; there’s no chance you know who I am. Regardless, I want you to know one thing about me: Saintseneca could release a 90-second song consisting of the vocalist yodeling while hitting a tin can with a whisk in the next room over, and I would listen to it 38 times the day of its release.
That being said, Saintseneca’s single, “Wild Violent,” was released on October 21, arriving just in time for both Halloween and their upcoming tour. The lyrics, wandering and wavering as always, are woven golden into the track, secured by threads of distorted guitar, with droning reminiscent of an organ.
Although the single isn’t even two minutes long, “Wild Violent” evokes rich and vivid visions of startling depth and complexity. Allusions to some distant person, perhaps the speaker’s mother, are drifted towards throughout the song as the speaker gradually makes their way through a box set of old horror DVDs–content that was previously forbidden in the speaker’s youth. The tone is listless yet, somehow, compulsive.
The single is anchored by two repeating phrases: “Let me get by” and “My dream's all mine,” each providing a sense of suggested reassurance. They are reminiscent of not only reclaiming your dreams from a leathery-skinned nightmare creature but also of reclaiming your present state from past trauma and previous association.
Let me be clear: this single is probably not as deep as I read it to be; however, it clearly conveys a specific moment within a specific experience, something another artist may not be able to do as easily as Saintseneca. However, until I find another artist I deem as worthy of my idolatry and idealization, I will stick to my 90-second recordings of mystical men beating tin cans.