Patriot Child (2018)
Patriot Child is Lilou & John’s fourth release and second EP. The album was the result of the band’s wish to record a punk album and the upcoming protest movements around Europe and North America were a interesting topics.
The album increased the band’s international fame and was reviewed by major indie site Punk Online who described it as “punk-art”. Another big music site, Death Metal Underground, called the band “nearly indescribable”, while Swedish Nya Tider wrote about “manic song” and “furious lyrics”. The vocal was also mentioned by KFJC 89.7 FM who called it “mesmerizing”, “fascinating in a harrowing manner” and concluded that “Lilou sings to defy both multinational corporations and conventional musical keys.” Motpol decided that the band was characterized by the ability to play with “perspectives and symbols and be one with them beyond good and evil,” Amerika wrote that the music created “an atmosphere of gritty, city-oriented noise” and Midgård simply referred to the band as “Two crazy Swedes.”
Psychotic Snowflake Anthem
”Russophobia was rehabilitated from the Cold War closet by the American political establishment to distract from the glaring internal collapse of American politics.”
-Finian Cunningham
“Psychotic Snowflake Anthem” was originally written as a retrospective story about John’s experiences of psychotic paranoia during his university years. “The university is a universe of its own”, he says, “where the outside world seizes to exist and everything is translated into diagrams and theories that have strong similarity with psychosis.” Having been threatened by a group of skinheads at the time added to John’s paranoia. He wanted to describe the constant fear and shifting of emotions, the conspiratory thinking and nightmares about the world’s end. Lilou added her most harrowing voice to give life to the song and to put emphasis on the lack of control of the narrator. The riffing guitars were meant to symbolize the staggering mentality of someone who is pushing herself over the edge of insanity, where nothing is stable but pulsating with extreme intensity. Finally, the drums gave the song a different character than was intended, as the reggae-beat turned it into an even more weird mix.
Text and music: Lilou & John
Chords verse:
Bm F#m Bm
Bm F#m Bm
Bm F#m Bm
Bm F#m Bm
Chords verse:
Bm G Bm
There is a sniper waiting for me just across the street
His eyes are full of malice and his mouth full of deceit
His ammunition’s manufactured in a factory
Deep beyond the Ural mountains close to the White Sea
And there is a bomb rigged to explode on the window pane
Push my lungs back through my spine and end this killing game
For them I’m just a prey to hunt down slaughter and consume
Or vanish in a few small seconds leave a thin black plume
And I am here still waiting
There is a trigger on my cell phone that sets off a flare
That tells a bomber in the sky it’s time for my nightmare
My skin will melt like rubber clothing in the napalm heat
And leave the crows to feed on well done marrow bone and meat
And there is a camera in my eye recording all I do
It sends the info to a secret enemy HQ
They need no reason whatsoever just a single call
To send me off to faeryland where luneys go St Paul
And I am here still waiting
They sent me off to Shivering Islands just some time ago
To collect some magic items with a madness bow
I hailed the prince called Sheogorath but he sent me back home
Unable to reload the game I can’t retrieve my tome
The sniper’s knocking on my door disguised as my best friend
Wearing skin to block the sun I cannot defend
Myself against their dirty tricks I have to hide my soul
Deep inside one single brain cell just to keep control
And I am here still waiting
And I am here still waiting
Petrodollar Wars
“‘It became necessary to destroy the town to save it’ a United States major said today”
-Peter Arnett
“Petrodollar Wars” started out as a song about the My Lai massacre and was written late one night in 2017 and Lilou gave the text its characteristic primal energy just a few days later. During the autumn of 2017, as the Syrian civil war raged on and the interference of foreign powers became more and more obvious, the song title, originally “Purgatory”, was changed into “Petrodollar Wars” to make it match the revolutionary approach of the album. The song is a deep dive into the mental world of a mercenary made cynical by war and his attempt to distance himself from his own actions.
Text and music: Lilou & John
Chords verse:
Dm Gm
Gm C Dm
Dm Gm
Gm C Dm
Dm C Bb Dm
Chords chorus:
Gm C Dm
Gm C Dm
Just a little ray of sunshine
Shimmers through the cloudy sky
Just a little angel singing
Sings so softly like a child
And you got that rhythm in your heart
Just a little village down there
Down below the deep green wood
Just a little river running
And the people that you would
Save if you could stop and press restart
Do all that you never dreamed of doing
Caring is the issue not the knowing
Just a little farmer working
Worries running cross his face
Just a little thought you’re sharing
With yourself cos there’s no place
Where you can share the pieces of your heart
Just a little chopper roaring
Machine guns rattling ‘tween the trees
Just a little soldier laughing
The people here cry iron tears
So they won’t blame you when you do your part
Do all that you never dreamed of doing
Caring is the issue not the knowing
Just a little girl come running
Screaming and you open fire
Just the little houses burning
Smoke that rises to the sky
Darkness deep as all that’s in your heart
Just a little game is over
Gun in hand and boots back on
Just a little memory fading
Into something you call gone
Maybe it was just a work of art
Do all that you never dreamed of doing
Caring is the issue not the knowing
Petrodollar Wars (Nerve War Mix)
“Petrodollar Wars” was remixed by American industry-metal artist Nerve War and released as a single on February 19, 2018. The result was an aggressive “anti-dance” production that matched very well the whole idea of the song.
Enemy of the Matrix
“Enemy of the Matrix” saw the light early one morning when Lilou woke up in bed with a melody in her head. She used the cell phone to record the first epic words “I can see you, I can feel you, I can breath you mortalkind”. John wrote an entire song based on those words with the intention of exploring the mental landscape of ancient Scandinavians that created the old viking god Odin. Lilou and John wanted to describe the strong religious emotions that surrounded the worship and what he might have meant for the world view of that era.
Text and music: Lilou & John
Chords verse 1,2,4,5,7,8,10:
Am Em C Fm
Chords chorus 3,6,9:
Am Em C Em Am
I can see you
I can feel you
I can breathe you mortalkind
In the water
In the deep well
I still watch you mortalkind
I was hanging
From the world tree
From the mighty Yggdrasil
I was given
I was given
All the knowledge of the runes
And I told you
I fortold you
There will come a day of woe
When the world ends
And the day breaks
And a woman and a man
Will be walking
Will be talking
And will try to understand
And I see life
Neverending
And I walk between the worlds
There be many
Called the elder
But you know my name and word
I can see you
I can feel you
I can breathe you mortalkind
Generation Identitaire
“This is not a manifesto, it is a declaration of war”
-Markus Willinger
“Generation Identitaire” was written after a reading of Markus Willinger’s poetic and furious manifesto “Generation Identity – a declaration of war against the 68ers”. Lilou gave the song a melody that turned it into a “pop song with rock guitars” according to John. Lilou wanted to “give the chorus a real punchline and to make the audience feel as if they are aboard an airplane lifting.” The chorus synth pad had the same function and the song was long intended as the centerpiece of the album.
Text and music: Lilou & John
Chords verse:
Cm
Eb Cm
Eb Cm
Gm Bb Cm
Chords chorus:
Cm Gm Bb Eb Cm
Cm Eb Gm Cm
You looked for Paradise
In the ruins of Mogadishu
And in the riot and red flag waving
And the streets that filled with blood
You looked for Paradise
In the scriptures of the Marx
And in the riot and red flag waving
And the streets that filled with blood
And we pay the price for your chasing of wind
We are Generation Identitaire
You looked for Paradise
In the bombs and genocide
And in the riot and red flag waving
And the streets that filled with blood
And we pay the price for your chasing of wind
We are Generation Identitaire
You looked for Paradise
In oppression of free speech
And in the riot and red flag waving
And the streets that filled with blood
And we pay the price for your chasing of wind
We are Generation Identitaire
We look for common sense
In a world destroyed by lies
We are the new river running
Its water old and free
But we pay the price for your chasing of wind
We are Generation Identitaire
We are Generation Identitaire
We are Generation Identitaire
Patriot Child
“If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic. If conservatives value elites, reactionaries seethe with contempt for them. If conservatives believe in institutions, reactionaries want to blow them up. If conservatives tend to resist too radical a change, reactionaries want a revolution.”
-Andrew Sullivan
“Patriot Child” was called “The Making of a Skin” before the name was changed to the title it has today. John wrote the song to describe his own childhood fury and is basically a new version of the old father-and-mother killing story. The idea was to describe the huge anger that turned boys in the 1980s into skinheads and that made them direct their anger against what they perceived as a petty-bourgeoisie society that gave them nothing but trouble and a place at the bottom of society. The song was re-written on several occasions to pinpoint the rejection of middle class values by the revolutionary wing of the modern far right in an attempt to describe the emotional core that once created the skinhead culture.
Text and music: Lilou & John
Chords verse 1,2,3,4:
G B
Eb G
G D G
G D Eb G
G D G
Chords verse 5:
F G
F G
D G
D Bb D G
D Bb G
Chords verse 6:
G# C
E G#
G# D# G#
G# D# E G#
G# D# G#
G# D# E G#
G# D# G#
Chords chorus 1,2:
G D G
G D G
Chords chorus 3:
G# D# G#
G# D# G#
Of course you’re angry child
They beat you down every second you try to breathe
Choke you with hypocrisy, treason and guilt
Steal your time and life for you still have a soul
Cover your eyes so you see what you’re told
Of course you’re angry child
They tell you be well mannered when they’re so bad
They are full of bullshit got halos instead
Everyone knows they don’t care about you
They won’t let you live cause the moment they do
You are gonna shut them up
You are gonna shut them up
Of course you’re angry child
They say you be ashamed when they are cowards and wrong
A slave collar shows you just where you belong
Patriot child, your voice is a crime
You won’t pretend that subjection is fine
Of course you’re angry child
They sell your every pound of flesh for one glass of wine
They can beat you deaf child, but never beat you blind
You will not give in to the powerful and rich
Deep state, fake news, the pimp and the bitch
You are gonna shut them up
You are gonna shut them up
You took the pill
At Charlottesville
But who did pay
For Lefty’s guns at Mandalay?
Yeah who will pay?
Of course you’re angry child
You pick up your guitar and go right out in the street
Singing your guts out ”retreat, hell retreat”
They try to kill you we’ve seen this before
Murderers calling their murders a chore
Victims accused of oppressing the poor
Innocent victims of their holy war
You are gonna shut them up
You are gonna shut them up
You are gonna shut them up
You are gonna shut them up
