Aye Nako invites their audiences to carve out their own communities, explore their own identities, and question authority. Their 2013 debut full-length, Unleash Yourself, won many hearts by setting relatable anecdotes against irresistible pop-punk hooks. The Brooklyn foursome are sure to do the same with their upcoming EP, The Blackest Eye. The album’s title alludes to Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, and similarly deals with themes of identity, abuse, power, race, and inferiority. As suggested by the seven inch’s first single, “White Noise,” Aye Nako are moving into darker territory.
In an interview with The Miscreant, singer/guitarist Mars Dixon explains that “White Noise” is about
“How whiteness is centered in everything, how it taught me to hate myself for being black, how when I was a kid I used to pray to God that I could be white, how my Filipino mother didn’t think it was necessary or important to teach me to speak Tagalog that way we can come off as American aka white as possible, how it scares me that white supremacy doesn’t even need white people to perpetuate it and how white people are going to demonize me for saying any of this out loud because how dare I ask for respect, for more than the bare minimum.”
“White Noise” considers these issues against tense and moody guitars that jolt awake only for the chorus, “I’ve let the white noise fuzz in my head for so long.”
Stream “White Noise” below:
The Blackest Eye is out 8/10 on Don Giovanni Records
