itoldyouiwouldeatyou have spent the last ten years amassing a dedicated and cult-like fanbase. Having recent played with the likes of Michael Cera Palin, awakebutstillinbed and Pianos Become The Teeth, they have also cemented themselves as the UK arm of the rapidly growing fifth wave emo movement. Their five year commitment to touring and promoting their debut record Oh Dearism (Alcopop Records/Failure By Design Records) has allowed them to bolster their fanbase and stoke anticipation for their next release.
'Moscow Is Silent' is the band's first release since the Oh Dearism album cycle and has been released by genre-fluid record label, Beth Shalom Records. Out on Wednesday 7th August, in the lead up to the band’s main stage performance at ArcTanGent Festival, the track draws on post-hardcore and post-punk, while maintaining the cathartic emo and power-pop sentiment that has carried through itoldyouiwouldeatyou's eclectic discography. 'Moscow is Silent' is an uncompromising mission statement that sets the tone for the next era of itoldyouiwouldeatyou's career.
Discussing the latest single, vocalist Joey Ashworth states, ‘This track was written in early 2021. I began writing about the power of alternatives to capitalism in the wider revolutionary consciousness. I wished to sketch this idea by discussing how both sides in the Cold War stole and replicated each others’ cruellest ideas, leading us to our current impasse. I wanted to express the feeling of guilt so many have while watching their own countries aid and abet vicious crimes abroad. What better way to do this, I thought, than to follow directly from our last single, Almost Zero, which discusses Crimea and the overtly Russian imperialist novels of Vladimir Surkov. I would tie this with my ongoing fear of a land war in Europe, and use these extreme ideas to interrogate my own feeling of helplessness in the face of unremitting hatred. Such a dark fantasy, I imagined, would perfectly encapsulate what I was trying to express: that there is a global feeling of helplessness of the people to curtail the worst impulses of their leaders. I wrote this song in order to turn my hatred for myself into love for every single person who did not choose this.
We are chained to madmen. It feels like we have no choice as to what is done in our name. In such a state of affairs, becoming a fascist is just one way to pretend that you have agency. The modern fascist doesn’t say ‘I want it this way’, they say ‘well that’s what I would have done anyway, let’s have more’. In 2024, even the fascist is no longer a radical.
This song is not about curling up. It is about taking a deep breath and deciding to help. It’s about telling the self-pitying heroin-chic nihilist in all of us to grow the fuck up. Swing for the fences baby, you’ve got a world to save. In the words of Cory Doctorow: ‘this is not the kind of fight you win, it’s the kind of fight you fight’.
Half of the proceeds of this track will be going to fund the continued Ukrainian resistance to Russian imperialism. It is part of a much larger whole.
LIVE SHOWS
09/08 - DUST, Brighton
15/08 - ArcTanGent Festival, Bristol
09/11 - Fest Shalom, London