Much like addiction to the substance in question, We Kill Cowboys’ “Pink Codeine” and its accompanying video become heavier and trippier with time, each belting chorus taking another step from reality.
Vocalist extraordinaire Alex Muller embarks on an amble through a Cape Town suburb to the tune of hard-edged but not unfriendly rock ‘n’ roll as she ponders and personifies the inner-workings of heavy-handed vice; that quietly destructive con-artist that sits in “the stillness in between your thoughts” and “the silence screaming in your sleep.”
Come the first chorus and the tone is still relatively jovial – visually and sonically bubbling along with an upbeat outlook.
However with the arrival of the second chorus the track flips on its head. Preceded by a bottle of whiskey to soothe an aching heart and ramp up the rush in the verse, the energy suddenly becomes dark and chaotic. Vocals rasp and roar in full-lunged desperation and minor-falls pull at the fringes of sanity as a snare pounds its impatience for all to hear.
On and on sound and vision warp and fragment as reality becomes ever-more distorted before a moment of unexpected paranoia calls time on We Kill Cowboys’ riveting dance with the human mind.
Feature pics supplied by artist
