Birmingham-based punk band Nowhere Squares are preparing to release their latest full-length album, The Cavemen We Become, through the experimental music label Step Pepper on May 11. In advance of that album’s release, the group have unveiled a new single, “Unstoppable Unremarkable.”“I was freaking out abut the idea of a North Korean nuclear attack, and started writing lyrics as a means of coping,” says frontman Paul Wilm “I realized while writing that it’s pointless and ridiculous to sit and pull your hair out fretting about the future. Instead, one should just celebrate the here and now.
“As I continued writing, the realization that the ‘future’ doesn’t really exist just hit me,” he says. “So by the end of the song I was happily in the present, celebrating the present! Lemons became lemonade!”
The song’s accompanying video, which Wilm says was inspired by the 1946 Orson Welles film The Stranger, explores current politics, “but in a playful, Little Rascals sort of way,” he says.
“Unstoppable Unremarkable” is the first taste of The Cavemen We Become, an album that Wilm describes as “an exciting new era” for the group.
“The Cavemen We Become more or less paints a picture of the ‘post-truth’ now,” Wilm says. “in an off-the-wall way, it’s our most political album. Musically, we found ourselves breaking into new territory, whilst lyrically the various characters and protagonists of each song struggle with issues of internet privacy, self-image, smartphone culture… The list goes on!”
Wilm says that much of the inspiration for the new album can be summed up in a Nina Simone quote: “‘An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.’” The new Nowhere Squares album, he says, is meant to help people cope with current political and societal problems. “The Cavemen We Become will hopefully be a cathartic experience for those listening and keep them dancing at the same time,” he says.
Watch the video for “Unstoppable Unremarkable” below. The Caveman We Become is out on May 11.
Blake Ells 