Newtown Neurotics announce new album ‘Cognitive Dissidents’ to be released via Cadiz Music on October 21

27th September 2022 0 By Jon Deaux

In a world full of charlatans, honesty and compassion have great value, and so it is clear, that the Newtown Neurotics with their new album ‘Cognitive Dissidents’, have that in spades.

Authenticity is a much sought-out ingredient in music, and can only be claimed by a band with a reputation and track record that evokes trust, a trust which their fan base return with fervent loyalty.
The band has over the years, released five albums and eight singles (which includes the eerily predictive ‘When The Oil Runs Out’ and the majestic ‘Mindless Violence’) and now return with this fresh salvo under the title of ‘Cognitive Dissidents’ which describes the people who wilfully reject evidence over what they ‘feel’, a play on the term ‘Cognitive Dissonance’.

Written and recorded by the band whilst in lockdown, during which the world tottered and swayed from the moorings that had previously anchored our lives and Coronavirus struck down our loved ones threatening us all, music became, as it always had been, one of the most important things to sustain us through our troubled times.

Always uplifting, never downtrodden, this is punk rock at its finest; this is the Newtown Neurotics music at its finest. In its form and content, it destroys complacency and dogma with reason and logic, and contains melodies that stir the head, the heart, and the soul.

Track-by-track description by Steve Drewett:

Climate Emergency:
The stage before Climate Collapse – From the opening staccato guitar, to an alarm ringing at the end of the song, this is a call to arms with an urgency that demands attention. The oil industry has known for years the effect of their product on the environment, now its effects are apparent for all to see. This is a song that you will always remember the first time you heard it.

Liar, Liar (Pants On Fire):
The light that keeps you in the dark – Word salads, obfuscation, misdirection, gaslighting and a client media using the Joseph Goebbels playbook of propaganda, attempt to create an alternative world that covers up the abject failure of the ruling party and its politicians and rebrands it as success.
Some of it may seem comical, but “It’s not funny its tragedy”. Drawing on a stream of lies, whilst tapping off the ash of truth once it has burned.

Take Your Dirty Hands Off Our Town:
A tale of new cities – It begins with a prologue that sets the scene. Then describes the birth and evolution of the Newtown phenomenon, and then moves on to show how a design for a decent life with good housing and humane built environment, was then undermined by successive governments with another agenda, which tore at the fabric of its communities and future.

Hope:
A song of strength in numbers – Along with love and compassion, these are the foundations of human existence. These are the first things that despots try to attack, to undermine, to exert control over. But these are powerful emotions and together with solidarity, can be the making of a compassionate and proud nation. Note, this track is the closest that a punk song will come to a James Bond theme, no really!

Dumb:
A song of social dislocation –The sliding nature of the guitar motif in this song, represents the sliding nature of a snake and the tempo suggests wading through mud, or quicksand perhaps. The song is depicting the detachment from reality of those who use Social Media as a tool to find truth. As powerful algorithms employed in these platforms reward conflict, it is easy for all of us to be consensually, unwittingly, victims in this.
The song points at the post war consensus of democracy as having been undermined to the extent that people have turned from relying on proof to understand the world, to feelings (belief ) to be their ultimate truth, no matter how illogical it is, an alternative reality based in nothing but wishful thinking.

To Hell In A Handcart:
Trapped in lockdown with UK&US politicians mirroring each other in a dance macabre–
This song channels George Bernard Shaw via The Beatles ‘Tomorrow Never Knows to depict the UK and the United States as partners in common bigotry, the UK with ‘Brexit’ and the US with ‘MAGA’(Make America Great Again), like two galaxies merging, one draining the other. The song moves from the darkness of the reality, to the joy of the alternative promised land of believers, and back again to the new dark ages. A journey with no end and no discernible destination.

Stand With You:
A song of solidarity – We are at our strongest when we are together, supporting one another. Powerlessness is a poison; togetherness is a self-sustaining and a healthy way to live.
This is a song extolling the virtues of standing by people in times of need. Support those that are alone and powerless and build resilience through solidarity. It is the bedrock of who we are and how we got here.

I Get On Your Nerves:
A song of rage– A true’ neurotics’ song where the object of the rage is an internalised one, rather than external. The force of dislike is disguising the fact that it is self- disgust. Externalising an internal feeling of failure is shifting blame to others. Very common and not recommended for conflict resolution.

Pre-order ‘Cognitive Dissidents’ HERE: