Singled Out: Charming Liars' Something Dark

Alt rockers Charming Liars recently released their new single "Something Dark" and to celebrate we asked singer Kiliyan Maguire to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

I pulled up to the studio and I heard the bones and bass of "Something Dark" echoing in the parking lot. When I opened the door my eyes saw the very focused face of our producer/guitar player Karnig as he pieced together a strange collection of sounds. He didn't look up at me and I just sat quietly besides him while we both absorbed what was coming through the speakers. Once the song had finished I looked at him and the first words to come out of my mouth were, "Something dark lives in that song."

There it was, the first spark. This process isn't completely unique to the way we've written songs before in the past. Sometimes the lyrics lead the music and sometimes, very much like with this song, it's the other way around. The synths and drums really just evoked a feeling of painful secrecy, like pages missing from a top secret government manuscript.... Lyrically this song grew from the initial chorus line, "something dark lives here"- from there the verses became a product of the times they were written in.

I knew right off the bat that this song wasn't going to be an easy write. This song wanted to be written - but it wasn't going to pass from my head into my pen easily. How does one transcribe a song that sheds light on subjects most people cringe at the thought of? We live in a world where we sweep way too much under the rug, a world where justice is still learning to walk. I think it's important to start conversations that need to be had, if that's with music, film or even just words. That's why this song was written.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself right here!

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