You get EPs, you get albums, you get singles – but one thing which seems to be taking hold of late is the ‘trilogy’. Three tracks that form a little series – more agenda-setting than a four-track extended player, but with less baggage than a longer release. If you’re looking at setting agendas, you’ll do well to find anyone better than Lynks. With their new trilogy ‘MEN’ completed today by final entry ‘Perfect Human Species’, we asked them to run through each track for us for our latest artist’s guide.
Silly Boy
I wrote Silly Boy when I was really f*cking pissed off with one very specific man. In that moment, I felt he represented every entitled, space-absorbing, toxic straight man I had ever met. The kind of man who still lives his life as if mum will do his washing up. The kind of man who snaps his fingers at bartenders, and forces open the doors on the tube. With the kind of toxic confidence that comes from never being told, or even considering for one second, that his point of view might not be valid. This song is for every person who has ever had the displeasure of dealing with one of these Silly Little Boys.
On the video: This was my first time handing the music-video-directorial reigns over to someone else, and Crash House absolutely SMASHED it. They fundraised the whole thing through Dogecoin, and created something so wild – so MASSIVE. All I told them is ‘I want the main character to be a massive fuckboy, and I want terrible, terrible things to happen to him’. And they took it to a whole new level. After the first day in that freezing cold set wearing just a catsuit with cutouts, I think I nearly caught hypothermia. But it was 100% worth it. Huge love to T, Ivo, Hana, the whole Crash House team plus all the dancers + extras who gave up their night to make this video so mega!!!
Hey Joe (Relax)
Hey Joe (Relax) is about bringing a guy you’ve been dating to meet your friends, and suddenly clocking that he’s a complete twat. It’s about the moment where your entire perspective about a man shifts. And you see him for what he is; a devil’s advocating, button pushing, confrontational, edgelord. And it’s suddenly totally unthinkable that you ever wanted to shag him.
On the video: I find modern self-care culture really annoying. Brands telling you if you buy their £9.99 monthly subscription you’ll be ‘investing in your mental health’. Like what the fuck? It’s so uncomfortable. And so with the video, I kinda wanted to channel the nasty-ness of that whole world. I homed in on the ‘Relax’ part of the song, taking loads of tropes of relaxation and self-care (ASMR, clean eating, houseplants etc.) and pushing them to a place of deep discomfort. And it was honestly one of the most fun shoots I’ve ever been on. Working with director Theo Watkins, set designer Molly Crisp, DOP Jamie Harding and stylist Adam Martin on the video was amazing – absolute dream team! I’m so happy with how it’s turned out.”
Perfect Human Specamin
When I wrote ‘Perfect Human Specimen’ I was thinking a lot about the idea of a ‘Perfect Man’. Imagining what that actually means; how tall? How attractive? How funny? Because the instinct is to say that you’d want the hottest, funniest, smartest, most selfless, sweetest man in the world. But in reality that would be fucking stressful. Because, firstly, you wouldn’t be able to help comparing yourself to him and feeling kinda shit by comparison. But secondly, it might also start feeling a bit much after a while! A bit exhausting, all that perfection and attentiveness. Imperfections and vulnerabilities are kind of important when it comes to actually connecting to someone. So with Perfect Human Specimen I decided to try and write a song from the POV of this hypothetical ‘Completely 100% Perfect Man’, and hopefully in the process reveal that the ‘Perfect Man’ is actually not so perfect after all.
