Outernational has a new song out, their first single off their upcoming ‘Here Is The Rose’ EP, and I am a little late on this because it was actually released just in time for Valentine Day. Not a coincidence, as Outernational is releasing the song in conjunction with ‘One Billion Rising’, a movement which is inviting one billion women to ‘walk out, strike, dance, rise up and demand and end to violence against women’. This is what the Brooklyn-based band had to say about this:
‘The cold truth is that there is nowhere on planet Earth where it is safe to be female. From Delhi, India to Steubenville, Ohio and everywhere in between, one cannot talk about freedom while half of humanity is enslaved. One cannot be about breaking all the chains but one’, declared Miles Solay.
‘We are releasing the Here is The Rose EP right now, in time for One Billion Rising and International Women's Day, because right now millions of people, and millions of women in particular are speaking and acting out against their daily oppression – patriarchy, rape culture, sexual objectification and dehumanization. We made these songs to support that expression, and to challenge everyone, even these women, to look to the real possibility of a different future, a revolutionary new society where patriarchy is understood and ended. Right now there is just as much responsibility for men to be speaking out against sexual violence and exploitation, patriarchy and the mind/body fuck that's being dealt to women everywhere. Men have responsibility to understand how they propagate patriarchy. We hope to be examples to other men and to other artists’, added Leo Mintek.
And as a woman, I applause of course! The song, which you can download below, starts with a wobbling keyboard and in-your-face expeditious vocals, a rocking rhythm that will definitively make anyone rise and dance, and a joyous nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah ending the song in a victorious tone. These guys believe in revolution, live through it while singing their heart out, and the lyrics seem to match the fast and sincere tempo of the music: ‘You wear your heart/On your sleeve/You're running fast/Down the street/Your feet on the ground/Why don't you dance with me?/Here is the rose now dance tonight’.
You can download ‘Here is the Rose’ below, and each of the 4 songs of the EP will be available for free download every Thursday leading to the EP release on March 8th, just in time for International Women’s Day! The whole thing looks like such a perfect timing.