Kate Tempest’s sophomore album, Let Them Eat Chaos, was released on October 7th, 2016 and instantly became one of my favorites of the year. It is a collection of stories in song about the lives of seven people who all live on the same street and are all awake at 4:18 AM, each worried about their individual problems without knowing they are all connected simply by the strength it takes them to get through each crushing day. The lyrics of the album speak of humanity at its most brutal and at the collective power of resistance against the brutality.
The song that is the least hopeful on the record is also one of the truest testaments to our apathy and disillusionment as a society. Taking a scathing look at at the political structure of a chaotic world slowly losing the battle with reason and sanity, “Europe Is Lost,” delivers a matter of fact smack-down on the current state of affairs. With that said, the words that flow between the beats of the track can easily fit into any period of history where those in charge have pulled the wool over our eyes. The images in the video are disturbing at times, but that is the point. The pounding beat rings out a dire message, and one that seems to go unnoticed with every generation. History repeats itself.
Tempest is holding a mirror to the world with this video and we should not turn away from it.
A tour in support of Let Them Eat Chaos starts in March with a Boston stop at Brighton Music Hall on April 10th. One word. GO!
My one word…POWERFUL!