Betrayal is a heavy load, SINGLE: AWSDOTR – I’d Rather Be Dead
And We Should Die Of That Roar – I’d Rather Be Dead is available Apple Music.
by Walter Price
With the opening sparse guitar plucking, one would assume they’re about to journey into a lumbering rock n roll lullaby. Then, just as you feel safe in your assertion, Hardy Hum’s growling vocals and that thick drumbeat hit you deep in the gut as the realization sets in, that this isn’t going to be easy going, at all. “I’d Rather Be Dead” is a Deep South-rooted juke-joint blues masterclass conceived in Sweden by a modern-day philosophical poet who never rests on his laurels.
Hum is quoted, “Betrayal is a heavy load. It has the power to easily eclipse and consequently weakens any bonds of love and mutual respect. But even with bonds being compromised the feeling of love might often linger on, overwhelming, completely irrational, and all-consuming. Which makes the bond even stronger – perhaps even unbreakable because it’s like being sentenced to eternal captivity in-between devotion and treason, between affection and the damage caused. Or in other words, once soaked in anguish and gloom of betrayal, the bond starts perpetuating the pain that caused its brake and its rise for all times to come. But the pain is not only the monument of things gone wrong – it is also an assurance that the relationship indeed was real – evidence of true love. I’d Rather Be Dead is praise to this multifaceted state of being in the world.”
I switch my flow and yet my rage persists
You can see my demons coming
Yeah they knock at your door
I throw them slick rhymes like I swing my fists
Hard, fast and heavy and right on your jaw
You love yourself so much till you feel no affection
Yeah ya keep on searching till you lose all direction
No need to look back ain’t no one there for you
Trouble is the only thing you really ever knew
Hey, don’t bother? Now that nobody cares!
Hey, I’d rather… you know I’d rather be dead!
‘Coz all the things that you really wanna do
Only cause the blues to stay
Hey, don’t bother? Now that nobody cares!
This haunting single is just one of several that And We Should Die Of That Roar will release before the forthcoming album, ‘Deathbed Lullabies’, drops. And you can stream it and another take-you-to-church stunner, “Hands Clapping”, below.
AWSDOTR
I’d Rather Be Dead + Hands Clapping
Artist photo via Facebook
Recorded in Old Cuntry Road Studio, Sweden
Recording, mixing, production: Hardy Hum
Lyrics & music. Hardy Hum
Guitars, drums, bass, vocals: Hardy Hum
Master: Kevin McNoldy courtesy of Cphonic Mastering
Artwork: Igor Gruda courtesy of Grafotopia
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“And We Should Die Of That Roar is a one-man musical soirée, instigated and run since 2014 by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Hardy Hum. Hardy’s music has been described as “incredibly innovative” (Pure M Magazine), “truly unique and powerful” (Res Magazine) with an immediately distinguishable sound that is “drenched in whiskey, aged with smoke and fired with emotion and power” (ibid). This, however, is but a dark echo of a more distant past.”