Viagra Boys: viagr aboys Review
A stellar addition to the Swedish post-punk group’s canon.
By Owen Neaman
Viagra Boys might be the most earnest trolls in rock music today, if such a title could exist. The Swedish dance-punk group continues to churn out album after album of irony-boiled commentary and insincerely cerebral meditations on the most random social topics imaginable. Petty theft, fast food, learning disorders, promethazine party culture: name it and they’ve done it, and with impeccable execution to boot. The band’s trademarks of pumping basslines, frenzied saxophones, and grooving guitars coupled with Sebastian Murphy’s snarling vocal delivery make a return on their fourth album, viagr aboys.
This album packs a spazzed-out synth lead, lines about outsourced goblin labor, and a mid-verse burp in its first thirty seconds. “Man Made of Meat” is proof that the band have perfected their formula of impeccable groove, catchy leads, and flagrantly anti-pop lyrics. The track effectively sets the self-deprecating and apathetic tone for the album.
“I don’t want to pay for anything / Clothes and food and drugs for free / If it was 1970 / I’d have a job in a factory”
These lines don’t seem to be about Murphy’s impostor syndrome as a musician as much as his apathy—he doesn’t bother to meditate on his success, but rather digs into himself as a performer feeling unaligned with the outside world.
“I am a man that’s made of meat / And you’re on the internet looking at feet / I hate almost everything that I see / And I just wanna disappear.”
Murphy veers away from more overtly political themes on this album compared to Cave World (2022), but his social commentary hasn’t disappeared, simply shifting focus onto how Viagra Boys fit into the sociopolitical flambé of the 21st century. “Pyramid of Health” tackles the capitalist nature of spirituality and holistic medicine, backed by woozy saxophone parts and lumbering basslines.
“Uno II” and “The Bog Body” are stellar character reflections of Murphy himself (the former is written from the perspective of his dog, the latter is about falling in love with a woman naturally preserved in ice). These songs feature some of the band’s catchiest hooks from keyboardist Elias Junqvist, saxophonist Oskar Carls, and guitarist Linus Hillborg. Every track on the first side is equally danceable and witty.
Songs like “Dirty Boyz” and “Store Policy” stand out, with Murphy’s delivery at its most ominously maniacal. This gives an edge to the tracks, one that grabs the listener by the collar and pulls them close. Their production throughout the album is the most immersive it’s ever been, with basslines and flute loops worming their way into the listener’s brain during rave-ups about smoking crypto and stealing shrimp from a zoo. Amidst all of the gyrating, grooving angst, there are several tracks laden with sincerity. “Medicine for Horses” and “River King” are downtempo, spare tracks where Murphy ventures into worlds of melancholia and despondence, something extremely refreshing for a band that sometimes loses itself in self-conscious stupidity. It’s still distinctly Viagra Boys—unflinchingly candid and unabashedly self referential.
Viagr aboys doesn’t deviate from the band’s signature sound all that much, but when your signature sound is as insistently weird as Viagra Boys, this isn’t a bad thing at all.