Track By Tracks: Sectlinefor - Kissing Strangers During An Outbreak (2021)

1. Milk Your Friends:

There is a complication when analysing Sectlinefor's lyrical content. Our three albums work as a singular unit whereby reordering the tracks, the listener can uncover a coherent narrative. However, when taking the songs on an individual basis, they appear incoherent but, in actuality, paint snippets of a larger fictional storyline. We should finish the tale with the fourth album. Then I'll be writing a book to go with it, hopefully making sense of the overall project.

Musically, we wanted to start the album with a heavy punch and Milk Your Friends was an obvious candidate. Piton's composition was so strong, parts reminded me of a Caribbean steelpan instrument, so I just wanted to stay out of its way as best I could.

2. The Saddest Face in All of Existence:

Kissing Strangers During an Outbreaks originally featured only nine tracks, but my OCD would not allow such an odd number, and I begged Piton to produce one more. He did, and this song was the result. Thank goodness we did! As soon as I heard the poppy energy driving the piece, I knew it would be our first single. We shot an intense music video for the song (directed by the infamous Ammar Khalifa), which you can find on YouTube. Fun fact: if you compare the first and the second verse line for line, they rhyme!

3. Shut Your Child's Mouth Forever:

Hanging onto the marching momentum of the album, this song flared up a certain J-Pop flavour inside of my guts, and I nurtured the vocal melody to honour the vibe. It's a catchy little number, I thought.

4. Spoiler Alert: Everyone Dies At The End:

Here's the first song written for the album! And the first indication that things are about to go slightly off the rails. It's fun and dancey; there's a commercial essence buried in there somewhere but still clawing into the classic unsettling Sectlinefor aura. I wrote the lyrics while I was travelling in Peru, as I wrote most of the words around South America and the USA. In fact, the first time Piton heard the vocals was when we recorded them!

5. Snort My Love Through Your Nose:

This song was initially set at the end of the album, but it was so heavy that we were worried the listener would be too worn out to take the hit! These lyrics were inspired by the lunatic rambles from the conspiracy theorists during the COVID pandemic; I even read a paragraph straight from a David Icke book, don't tell him. Piton's sloppy drunk solo on this track is my favourite part of the whole record.

6. Six Minute Abs:

What surprised me about this song is how positively everyone responded to it. I guess it became our unofficial third promo single or something. The joke is in the title. It's about Santa Clause, maybe.

7. Hydration Party:

This is an… interesting song. I think I like it? My scream (or lack thereof) on the chorus is worth the inclusion. I do drink a lot of water. They tell me it's a good thing, but I need to pee all the time.

8. Babies Come From Trees:

My favourite track off the record! Finding a place for my limited vocals was difficult due to Piton's busy composition, so I opted to squeeze my guts like a tube of toothpaste and forced this almost melody-less delivery from my mouth. It really works for me! There's an unpleasant darkness to it. I can't think of another song by any artist that sounds similar to it.

9. Kissing Strangers During an Outbreak:

The title track! If we were a signed band, I wonder if there would be label pressure to release this song as the single? The standard-rock chorus sounds so normal for us. Truthfully, I sang way out of tune during the recording; it's a miracle Piton managed to transform my noise into such a digestible offering. He's a wizard.

10. Double Blue Tick of lol:

A lyrics video exists for this song, search for it on YouTube. I drew a ton of pictures for the piece. It's cute. I cherish this song for many reasons. For example, it is forever pushing forward; there's no repetitive structure, just a string of ideas rather than a formulated snoozefest. And there is something particularly mischievous about ending a metal album signing about Whatsapp. That's the type of idea that would annoy the entire scene. That's what Sectlinefor is about, through and through.