Parties, Privacy & HUNNY'S "Sports With Strangers"
Written by Caitlin Joy
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
Reminisce, if you please, on the plastic-cup, disco-ball nights of yesteryear: fluorescently lit dorms, fog-filled basements, and (charmingly) disorderly living rooms, overflowing with cherished friends, curious acquaintances, and far too often it seemed, overly opinionated and maddeningly talkative strangers. Indie-pop band HUNNY, hailing from Southern California, captures the unbridled irritation of that very unfortunate situation immaculately, through synthetic beats, melodic riffs, a glossy rhythm, and delightfully sardonic lyrics, in their newest single, “Sports With Strangers.” The single comes as a gleefully unforeseen surprise to the band’s dedicated, tight-knit fan following who are still revelling in the signature sparkling and shiny melodies, addictively fizzy sound, and cheekily lovesick messages of their first full-length album, 2019’s Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
The track’s impassive opening refrain (and latter motif), “I don’t wanna go to your party,” precisely embodies the existential dread foreshadowing an evening spent suffering unstimulating small-talk with unlike-minded people, as does lead singer Jason Yarger’s brilliantly blasé delivery throughout. Encapsulating the band’s collective attitude on the matter, Yarger recounts the disdain and contempt he has regarding egocentric, self-righteous types—illustrated and insinuated to be haughty, boisterous men loudly expressive of their ignorance and machismo—that appear routinely in certain social circles he shares. Jason narrates his abject aversion to the uncomfortable, antagonistic monotony of such parties in which said people, wholly unaligned with his own beliefs, opinions, and identity, dominate, further outlining his overt rejection to a particular, pertinent invitation, instead intending to pursue the solitude of a humble “gas station.”
The theme which pervades “Sports With Strangers” is separation: distance, loneliness—the desolate ennui one collapses into when the physical presences which surround them are devoid of any compatible morality, conviction, or perspective—misunderstood oil, amidst a flood of disparate, dissenting water. As ubiquitous as this narrative appears in the current cultural climate, HUNNY reflects and ruminates upon the concepts of seclusion, remoteness, and isolation in an innovative, engaging way: mirroring the despondency of hollow interpersonal relations with the confines of tangible quarantining. This was intentional, as the band denotes, “Rather than write about the loneliness that comes from being physically separated, we were reminded of the distance that comes from spending time in a crowd that couldn’t be further intellectually and emotionally from your perspective.” Abstractly interpreting the morose, melancholic emotions of this unfortunate time, to be contextualized in relation to a party provides the listener an ironically, uplifting experience, as the frivolity of declining to attend a social celebration is a benign dilemma to be enraptured with when compared to those of today’s reality.
In classic HUNNY form, the instrumentals swell with glimmering life: excited, enlivened staccato drums facing front, crisp, twinkling guitar climaxing with a staticky, 90s-style reverberation solo, and sturdy yet quick and agile bass, thus creating a quirky, ‘effortlessly cool’ harmony. Musically, “Sports With Strangers” epitomizes the dreamy concoction of hypnotizing synth-pop, eclectic indie rock, and sharp-edged new-wave that the band has been savants of since their debut EP, 2016’s Pain/Ache/Loving: a sonic atmosphere that encourages one to pursue becoming the “main character.”
Accompanying the single is a technicoloured music video directed by Logan Rice, depicting Yarger’s glazed navigation through the apposite party, intercut with high-energy shots of the band ecstatically driving seemingly nowhere (eventually arriving at the aforementioned gas station), and spritely, immersive performance clips. Highly conceptual with artful composition, the video is a deconstructed illustration of the tune’s story and oddly provides the viewer an upbeat, sanguine experience, serving as a parallel to how “Sports With Strangers” incorporates the core emotions of the modern time while exuding felicity and optimism. Amidst the disconcerting disarray, HUNNY accomplishes the feat of creating a piece of ebullient, uplifting art that acts equally as an insightful reflection of the current day and a blitheful distraction from its undesirable inconvenience in its prompting of us to remember the exasperation of irksome patrons at our otherwise beloved, highly-cherished parties.