Social media, constant internet connectivity, and a bottomless pit of not-so-reliable information always aimed at attention attraction are bringing the world to a boil. The Otherness calls for young cultural rebels to stand up and get loud in its latest single, “A New Resistance.”
The Argentine band now based in Berlin wrote the song by the end of its EU tour in 2021, inspired by the constantly unfolding events around them. The tour had been hamstrung by a COVID, and it seemed that nothing but chaos could be found.
Still, The Otherness considered it important to use its music to uplift and bring people together, not wallow in despair. The vocals and instrumentals in “A New Resistance” are delivered with positivity and delight, even if the lyrics themselves outline a grim reality.
“You are getting high on information, you know
And anxiety has taken over you
We float in a sad ghostly dimension, we go
Chasing fake news as obsessions, what shall we do?”
This sort of track isn’t out of character for The Otherness.
“This song entails the melodic side of our craft and also the hard-edged music and serious themes we address with pop tunes as a manifesto,” the band said.
“A New Resistance” is accompanied by a four-minute music video that shows two young people running through the rugged outdoors around La Patagonia, Argentina, the hometown of the band’s members. While the two hustle to embrace one another, everyone around them is entranced in their phones, too caught up in the flashing lights to acknowledge the breathtaking scenery surrounding the city.
“The video shows the hometown of the boys through beautiful landscapes – a take on the end of the world as most people don’t know it,” the band explained. “The poignant images of nature and the tweens on foot and on their way to meet each other represent the eternal bond music creates at that age and the fond memories we build together in life.”
The Otherness looks at the current paradigm with dismay, dejected by the monetization of information and the transform of the real into something contrived and commercialized. But the band doesn’t view the future with the same disdain. It’s possible for “A New Resistance” to emerge and topple the oppression of the “smart prison.”
“Rebellion, spontaneity, eccentricity, humor, curiosity, thoughtfulness, solidarity, creativity, imagination, free experimentation and risk,” the band said. “This expression is spiritual in nature and takes place in the consciousness and in the soul. This expression demands the best of us, since artificial intelligence will not solve our problems, it will simply exploit them. This expression is for freedom.”
