Every Time I Die's new album track-by-track with Keith Buckley

Typically when we receive new albums at the AP Skyscraper, the musicians leave it up to us to interpret their lyrics and search for metaphors that we think can apply to real-life scenarios. But most musicians aren’t KEITH BUCKLEY. As he and his band EVERY TIME I DIE prepare to release their fifth full-length, New Junk Aesthetic, the literate frontman offers up the stories and meanings behind every song on the album.



Roman Holiday

“This was an exercise in spontaneity. I had just seen Rosemary’s Baby for the fifth time and the line about "all of them witches" drove me straight to writing. The song is about sacrifice, using the literal image of murder as a metaphor for the emotional version we all make.”



The Marvelous Slut

“I saw an image of a number of men voluntarily being crucified to honor Jesus. I thought it was extremely self-righteous to make yourself comparable to the idea of Jesus. I wondered what went through their heads when they decided to give their lives for such an enormous idea, [for which they] would never be remembered. Then I realize, we all do that every day of our lives.”



Who Invited The Russian Soldier?

“I wrote this the day after some idiot 19-year-old girl with a fake ID spilled my drink at a bar while dancing like an asshole to a Rolling Stones song. I snapped. I berated her and her friends. I felt they didn’t belong there. Afterwards, I started feeling like maybe it was me who didn’t belong there–the old man who hasn’t figured out how to make room for change. Russian soldiers are notorious for their defeatism.”



Wanderlust

“This song is about touring.”



For The Record

“This is about how distracted I get by every stimulus around me. Kind of tongue-in-cheek, as I make it seem like I’m aware of how little I’m aware and there’s a nobility to it; When in reality, I’m growing very tired with myself and how little I can focus.”



White Smoke

“When they find a new pope, they burn chemicals to produce white smoke from the Vatican chimney. It alerts people the old one is dead and has been replaced. The idea that there is a distant signal to express that you’ve been forgotten is funny to me. It’s so impersonal and untouchable.”



Turtles All the Way Down

“This is about me watching myself watching myself watching myself.”



Organ Grinder

“The paradigm of the ‘Big Brother’ sentiment on this record. Everyone is being watched. Thanks, YouTube.”



Host Disorder

“I’m a people pleaser and I fucking hate that about myself.”



After One Quarter Of A Revolution

“This was written after a very dramatic event that occurred with the band while in the studio. I felt like I had cleaned a slate that had been dirty for way too long and got back to what was important in my life. ‘After one quarter of a revolution’ is a reference to specific trajectories in which bodies in orbit along different paths will collide.”



The Sweet Life

“Based on Federico Fellini’s [1960 film] La Dolce Vida and, concurrently, my own life.” alt