Polish electro band CLICKS has released the second single from his forthcoming album, G.O.T.H., which is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing releases of the year.
The song is called “Clicks. Dead,” and it contains all sorts of self-referential lyrics, such as making 4/4 beats and hitting number one on the German DAC chart. The album opens with the line, “36 on my back,” which I suspect is the age of CLICKS frontman Kr-Lik. This song is a lotta fun.
“Clicks. Dead” is the follow-up track to CLICKS’ previous single “I Dream,” which was my favorite synthpop song of February 2021.
Both songs appear on CLICKS’ upcoming album, G.O.T.H., which will be out on April 16. When I initially heard the title, I thought it was a bit obvious until I learned that G.O.T.H. actually stands for “Getting Old, Tired, and …” We’ll have to guess what the H means!
The album aims to be “a thoroughly serious and respectful examination of this former youth culture, which has been aging noticeably for several decades.” He’s not wrong. Another track from the album, “Every Bloated Muscle,” immediately stood out to me as a sarcastic homage to the beloved Nitzer Ebb song “Murderous,” which contains perhaps their most famous line, “Where is the youth?”
There’s a long history of winking nods to the goth-industrial scene from dark electronic artists. Faderhead once sang the line “I wrote a bunch of hits, got the elites pissed,” and Caustic has practically made a career out of self-deprecating lyrics and references to earlier bands. In 2020, Colorado band Voicecoil release a song called “Nostalgia Trap” that contained unmistakable references to VNV Nation and Covenant: “Did you carry a sword?” and “Did you make ritual noise?”
On the chorus of “Clicks. Dead,” Kr-Lik sings, “Clicks for life. Clicks live. Clicks dead. Clicks is dead.” For some reason, I’m most reminded of Neuroticfish’s oft-used sample, which has become that band’s motto: “Electronic Body Music is dead.”
Watch the animated lyric video below. And look for “Clicks. Dead” on Bandcamp and Spotify. You can also pre-order the upcoming album.
