A Gruesome Tale One Text At A Time

Thee Oh Sees (Osees) “Red Study”

“Red Study” has a sinister but playful groove, bouncing along on a bass line that’s quite perky but also sort of unbalanced and seasick. John Dwyer runs with this vibe in the lyrics by singing from the perspective of a modern trickster figure who openly tells you that he will lie to you and ruin your life, and you’re left to wonder whether that’s just another one of his lies. (It’s not.) It’s not hard to get why Dwyer would write this song now – if anything, the tricky part is figuring out which demonic presences in culture preying on rubes specifically inspired this song. It could be anything, but this one feels particular to Q for me.

Buy it from Bandcamp.