iDKHOW Wants You to "Leave Them Alone"
Words by Faith Logue
Graphic by Emily Lantzy
The futuristic drums and guitar rhythms hit upon my ears instantly. To any fan, the track “Leave Me Alone” can be recognized as the work of I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, with their unique sound and the very distinct voice of Dallon Weekes. “Leave Me Alone” is the newest single by the group, which is the first single off of their upcoming album Razzmatazz - an album name that is unique and unheard in and of itself. The beginning of the song transports me back to the era of synthesizers and proud guitar sounds; the era of the 1980’s where artists such as David Bowie and Prince dominated the charts. That era, in a way, is a musical foil to this new song.
The single “Leave Me Alone” is lyrically very strong - even genius. One line that really stuck out to me is “They say the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't.” This line can be interpreted in many ways, but to me, it means that one must deal with something bad when met with it rather than waiting for something progressively worse that is new to occur. Interestingly enough, Dallon Weekes made a tweet back in June that used that same line, which flew right over all fans’ heads. One thing I’ve noticed with a lot of iDKHOW songs is that they seem to be indirectly talking to someone that they are against (e.g. “Choke” and “Absinthe”), but the listener is so entrapped in the overall sound of the song that they don’t realize it. The title itself seems like a dead giveaway that Weekes and Seaman are telling someone else to leave them alone, while also calling out the traits that they don’t like about them.
The bridge of this song is one that is most captivating to me. The track suddenly takes a darker turn, with Weekes’ vocals and Seaman’s drumming becoming much slower and softer. It makes me want to start swaying back and forth to the melody. My favorite line from this section is “Aristocrats, tip your hats and break your mother’s heart,” because it is a very intriguing and well-written lyric, and I believe it is also referencing another song of theirs - “Social Climb.” In that song, the lyric “Come break some hearts now” feels similar to the lyric stated above.
The song “Leave Me Alone” is overall very well done and retro-sounding, which we rarely come across in music written today, but often come across in iDKHOW’s unique work. This song is one of their best yet, in my opinion, because there are many lyrics that stand out and allow me to analyze them further. Their new (and first) album Razzmatazz will be out on October 16th, with familiar fan-favorites like “Lights Go Down” and “Door.”