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# Review of _Clancy_ (2024)

Last Updated 2024-03-31

## Overcompensate

The first single dropped while I was in Boston. I watched the MV in the
lobby at the Museum of Fine Art. I cannot say a bad thing about the music.

Things that immediately caught my attention:

- So the boys decided to start an entire album with German (I heard "diese
  kleine", "gemacht" and "wir glauben beide", but I couldn't figure out
  the rest until someone on Reddit transcribed it)
- Interpolation of "Bandito" from _Trench_
- First "real" line of song begins at 1:46 which, depending on your
  definition, may or may not make the intro even longer than in "Implicit
  Demand For Proof"
- Tyler grins every time he sings the word "overcompensate"
- His hand signs V on "twice" which is a classic trope all tøp fans
  recognize
- On "by the time", he pretends to check his watch, alluding to the short
  published in 2022 titled "sometimes people ask what we do all day before
  the show starts." where he does the same

![Left: Tyler sits on a couch and looks at his wrist; right: Tyler stands
in a red light and looks at his wrist](img/clancy_review/watch.jpg)

- At the end, someone pulls off "Tyler"'s mask only to find another
  person. Tyler himself is actually far away from Dema, and the "Tyler" we
  saw throughout the video is just a citizen possessed by Tyler. The
  citizen has long hair and looks feminine, which is coherent with a fan
  theory (which I believe) that "Redecorate" from _Scaled And Icy_ is
  about a transgender person.
- Josh ordered his like 6th? 7th? 314th? custom drum kit from SJC??

Only problem I have is the youtube thumbnail. Look at Josh. Why he look
like Elon Musk 😭😭😭

![Josh in front of a projection screen and a line of text is projected
right on his lips](img/clancy_review/overcompensate_thumbnail.jpg)

## The album cover & meta things

The album cover was not well received. Lots of fans say they could do
better. I agree. Just look at this.

![Tyler and Josh, in black and white all blurry like crafty newpaper
cutouts, in front of a red/yellow
background](img/clancy_review/clancy.jpg)

The art style is ok, and it's reminiscent of the low-res, dithered feel of
their teasing website,
[dmaorg.info](http://dmaorg.info/found/15398642_14/clancy.html). It's fine
if it's the style they're going for. After all it's the first time the
boys put themselves on a record cover.

But I mean… at least give Josh more attention… like c'mon.

The album is set to drop May 17, which made me worried because if they
tour right then over summer break I might miss it.

## Next Semester

Haha! They're not touring until August, and the Detroit show is on
September 29. I guess you could literally… (picks up acoustic guitar) wake
me up when september ends 🥁🥁🥁

Anyway, a new single dropped titled "Next Semester" and incidentally
that's when I'll go to their show. I received the newsletter halfway
through a take-home exam, and I was unable to concentrate ever since.

The song is unexpectedly punk, a _huge_ deflection from the hip-hop of
"Overcompensate". The bass is punchy af and sounds straight from Mike
Dirnt. The drumline is almost irresponsibly simple compared to
"Overcompensate". It's un-Josh.

_Snap, snap, snap — it's not a bad thing._ Given the punk genre, this may
be intentional. Allow me to go on a tangent about Radiohead.

Back when I was in love with _The Bends_ and thought nothing could top it,
I tried _Kid A_ and, unexpectedly, it got me hooked in just three seconds.
For context, _The Bends_ is pure rock, and _Kid A_ is pure electronic
— synthesizers, drum machines, vocoders, etc. If Wikipedia is to be
trusted, it's because Radiohead grew tired of rock.

You need dynamics in a song, you need dynamics in an album, and you need
dynamics in your discography. To make "[genre] and [genre] only" is to
become a machine. This is why I get bored of some albums by Linkin Park
and Green Day. To be fair, I get bored with tracks #6-9 on _Vessel_
sometimes, so I'm not as biased as you think.

Back to "Next Semester". Interesting things:

- Tyler's bass is practically identical to mine; he's got a Fender P,
  probably charcoal gray, and I've got a Squier PJ in the same color.
  Great minds think alike
- Despite probably intended to resonate with students, it did not resonate
  with me because I'm doing pretty ok this semester and am not
  contemplating suicide no thank you will check back when i need it

Now.

Tickets.

This is the most stressful part, to get tickets before they sell out,
probably not into hands of real fans, but resellers who profit with an
obscene margin. I hope they die.

Here's hoping my luck works out on April 2. I hope it's less than $100,
but at this point it's not really about cost.