#slothtrust

You’re the Worst is back (has been for two weeks), and I just need to share some thoughts about how overwhelmed the music of Slothtrust makes me. I only found out about the band because of the show. When I stated watching and I only knew the lyrics “I’m going to leave you anyway,  I’m going to leave you anyway” and it was funny, tonally appropriate for the kind of anti-romantic-sit-rom-com. Then I listened to the whole song and it ceased to be funny.  It’s mostly about how hard it is to face the day.  I’m not even sure the singer is addressing a person so much as a series of moving targets, some of which are probably anthropomorphized.  The need to get away, keep moving overwhelms the bratty, self defeating petulance of the lyrics.

I’ve listened to more of their songs, though I have yet to buy any of their albums. This sort of funny, really dealing with depression is pretty consistent with them. Take “Crockpot” which has the lyrics “I'm a devil/You're a devil/ We're all devils, Mary/You love Satan/But you don't know her/And sometimes she gets scary” couching a genuine feeling of terror in an attempt to bond over something that can only be addressed as a joke, because the alternative is too hard.

I feel like the music is both perfect for the show and kind of an inversion of it. While watching You’re the Worst, I know its about sad characters, but they are often so funny that I get lost in the reverie of the humor.  The songs are obviously shorter than an episode of tv, so I listen and worry that I loose the humor because I can only catch the feeling behind it.  While writing this I remembered that the overture to La Traviata tells the whole story backwards, beginning with Violetta’s death and ending by turning into the party where Violetta meets Alfredo.  It’s like that only all theme and no plot. (Does that make sense? Well, I bet no one made the comparison before.)

Humor is important in making “7:30 AM” perfect for You’re the Worst the series in general. But “Horseshoe Crab” might be the perfect song for Gretchen, particularly with her clinical depression. Is their a more beautiful assurance that depressive episodes are temporary than “When I get better, I'll treat you like I used to/I'll do the things you want me to”?  The music video is great too, I love the cuts between natural and man made bodies of water, real fish and toys.