There’s a fine line between thinking you’re hot shit and dogshit, and The Jacklights just found it smack dab in the middle of their new double single. A disorienting mood swing lurks between the balance of Side A (“Womanchild”) and Side B (“Underachiever”), and whoever metaphorically flips the record over better brace themselves for an attitude adjustment.
The Boston band dropped the duo of new tunes yesterday (October 19) via Red on Red Records, revealing warring sides of the same cramped headspace. Brash tune “Womanchild” only knows petty remorse (“sorry I threw up in front of your friends” quips vocalist and guitarist Nilagia McCoy); “Underachiever” is content to wallow without shame. In terms of this release, The Jacklights ooze invincibility or misery — there is no in between.
“‘Womanchild’ is a bratty song about going through life thinking you know everything, but really screwing up some things in your life, including relationships because you’re just too immature and insecure to know better,” explains McCoy. “‘Underachiever’ is about being a little bit older and becoming more aware of your shortcomings and the things you don’t know about life — but ultimately accepting it and being able to live life on your own terms — even if it’s not what everyone else thinks you should be doing, or if you don’t measure up to society’s definition of success.”
Or in modern pop culture terms: It’s as if someone transformed that treasured “I am so great!” Bart Simpson meme into cranked-up pop-punk.
Turn The Jacklights’ world upside-down below.