New Shonen Knife: “Bad Luck Song”

Shonen Knife have every right to phone it in. They’ve been active since 1981 – geez – and have gotten global attention. They reduced Kurt Cobain to being a hyperactive fanboy. They soldier on, though, and have a new album out soon, and here’s the first taste of it. “Bad Luck Song” is a relatively stroll-ready number, laid back and hardly as “strange” as they’ve gotten in the past. No cutesy imagery gone buzzing, no Ramones-honoring madness, just an easy-breezy tune. Yet this isn’t the sonic equivalent of a post-lunch nap, because the words reveal this to be a call for a shift in perspective. “Life is so hard, let’s take it easy/change your way of thinking,” goes the chorus, and everything surrounding that seems to seek out music itself as escape, a way to make the roughness of life go down easier. It’s the rock equivalent of this (*dodges bottles). Listen above.