EMA has just released an incredibly racy punk track called “False Flag” as a part of a digital art/net zine collection she’s working on for New Hive. The song is a long monologue and political statement on the exploitation of the tragic events on 9/11. It’s a thrashing hardcore punk song with Anderson’s vocals disguised under a heap of distortion, only adding to the heightened tension.
EMA is not one to shy away from the explicit, and she’s put enough blood-related imagery and punk ethos into “False Flag” to compare it to a Sex Pistols song, but it’s the brutally direct language that captures the anger especially well: “Take all of the war and peace and nail them to the wall/And then erect a false flag to justify it all/Day and night and night and day the images of towers/Disseminate the images consolidate the powers.”
We asked Erika Anderson about the origins of “False Flag” and she had this to say:
“False Flag” is a lost generation take on 9/11. Not meant as a conspiracy theory, but as a critique of the aftermath. When I see a militarized police force in Ferguson, I see echoes of 9/11. When I see decreased economic opportunities for young people, I see an astronomical defense budget. And when I see the US spying on not only its own citizens, but also our allies abroad, I see the PATRIOT act gone too far.
Listen to “False Flag” here.
