Everything Everything

‘A Deeper Sea‘

EP Review

By Aaron Christensen

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Manchester art-rockers Everything Everything released a surprise EP, A Deeper Sea, on February 23 in support of their upcoming UK tour. The four-track release deals with concepts of male identity and the mental health crisis facing modern males, as well as notions of entitlement and generational desensitisation. Hot off the release of 2017 album, A Fever Dream, the new EP further highlights the band’s ability to turn incredibly acute, contentious and pervasive topics into tastefully produced works of art with lyrical nuance that has come to be expected from the group.

The EP begins with The Mariana, an ambient, ethereal track that deals with the current crisis in masculinity and the almost invisible issue of male suicide. Singer and lyricist Jonathan Higgs likens the feeling of depression to sinking into the sea, into the darkest of fathomable places, the Mariana Trench, the deepest trench on Earth. In an interview with NME, Higgs mentions statistics regarding the high, yet unrecognised number of male suicides, with the metaphor of the Mariana Trench espousing the inward and societal pressures of feeling as if “You have to be / Or not to be / The man.” The tasteful homage to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the closing chorus, and the personification of the Trench throughout the song creates a feeling of overwhelmingly pervasive pressure and hopelessness; “My God, someone always has to be the man / (Mariana, are you there?)” The soft instrumentation of a single pulsing synth leading to the introduction of a simple piano, before steering towards a hopeful beat complements the lyrics to create a poignantly melancholy song that by the end, leans towards optimism.

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Lead single, Breadwinner, originally recorded for A Fever Dream, deals with concepts of misinformation, denial and desensitisation and returns to a theme explored in Everything Everything’s previous works; conspiracy theories. The first verse makes reference to the September 11 terror attacks; “9/11, 9/11, 9/11, when? / I repeat it, I repeat it, I repeat again,” highlighting the misinformation and denial spread in the modern age. The second verse makes reference to the Miranda Rights – the rights read aloud to individuals taken into police custody in the United States – and the Anglo-Zulu War of the 1980’s; “Read my marimba, my marimba, – rimba rights / I can tango but I can’t put up a Zulu fight / So much apocalypse you’re finding it a bore.” These lines encapsulate the desensitisation of modern society to the abhorrently violent acts carried out across the world. Contrasting the overall tone of the song is the incredibly catchy and anthemic chorus, delivered in Higg’s impeccably rousing falsetto; “You’ve gotta be kidding me (x6) / Now I see you’re not,” emphasising his utter disbelief regarding the obscenity and society’s inability and general callousness towards world events.

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The penultimate track on the EP is a Tom Vek remix of Ivory Tower, a track from A Fever Dream, that details notions of entitlement and racial issues, and the apparent divided society of the UK. The last song, a live BBC recording of Neil Young’s 1970 track, Don’t Let It Bring You Down offers the perfect transition from the bleak, overwhelming hopelessness, disinterest and denial facing modern society, to a more hopeful upturn by the end.

The lyricism, the instrumentation, an awesome remix and a perfectly chosen and performed cover once again prove that Everything Everything are band whose social consciousness and artistic talent we don’t deserve, but we need them now more than ever.

5/5 Stars

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