Fingernails Where There Should’ve Been Chalk

Titus Andronicus “Lonely Boy”

A thing I appreciate about Titus Andronicus is that as the band goes along, they seem to gravitate towards an early Springsteen/mid-period Clash sound – the strut and the hooks of glam, but rowdy and humble and aggressively working class. There’s a bunch of songs like this on The Most Lamentable Tragedy, but “Lonely Boy” is the one that really stands out, in part because it plays so well at face value while Patrick Stickles’ lyrics and vocals project a misanthropy that’s at odds with the music’s amiable, accessible vibe. Stickles is very funny here – he’s totally self-aware, and though he’s singing about very real antisocial tendencies, he sees the humor in it. This is just one part of a sprawling song cycle about manic depression, but I think it works well on its own as a microcosm of this emotional push-and-pull, and boom and bust cycle of having the energy required to get out there and live.

Buy it from Amazon.