- 2024-12-25
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MUSIC
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Benefits Releases New Anti-War Song “Missiles”
British indie rock band Benefits, consisting of Kingsley Hall (vocals) and Robbie Major (synthesizer), released a new anti-war single called “Missiles” on December 24, 2024.
The song is the third single off of their upcoming sophomore album “Constant Noise”, which is set to be released on March 21, 2025 via Invada Records.
The track is an experimental six-minute anti-war song that contrasts comfortable life with the scenes of missile devastation we've seen too much of this year.
It was written by Kingsley Hall, Robbie Major and James Adrian Brown. Produced by James Adrian Brown.
The music video was directed by John Kirkbride, who filmed at Middlesbrough Town Hall in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.
The band lead singer Kingsley Hall said of the song, “We wanted to release a song that emphasised our commitment to still create wildly angry music, but in an unconventional way. Theres no shouting or obvious sloganeering here, yet its still seething with fury. Lyrically its an attempt to look at our own comfortable mundane western lives and question why the terror and horror of others can fade so far into the background that it barely registers when its mentioned on the news or pops up on your phone.”- He continued, “The soundscapes that Robbie and James created for the track match the tension in the lyric, slowly building the intensity to an uncomfortable finale. In the past we'd have tried to get the same effect by simply adding big blast beat drums or a slab of concrete noise. With this song, and indeed the whole album, we felt it was important to not rely on old tricks, to try something new, to push ourselves.”
He said of the video, “We decided to try and mirror the glacial slowness of the song in the film. There needed to be a certain level of intensity so we went back a little to the aesthetic of some of the earliest Benefits videos where next to nothing would really happen, just a lone figure in front of a static camera. In doing so, the smallest gestures become important. I essentially play a fool – performing to no one, applauding myself, patting myself on the back by doing the bare minimum emphasising the core themes of ignorance and pomposity at the heart of the song itself.” - Photo by Tom White
- source : YouTube
