Taken from the recent EP release “Pulling the Knife Out of My Back” (The Ghost Is Clear Records), “Sadistic Gift” by CHILDREN’S LETTERS TO GOD serves as a essence of angular, yet melodic screamo. Their tinkering among the record’s atmospherics results in truly majestic results and the band’s new video by Andy Wallis (Displaced/Replaced) displays it expertly. Today, we’re thrilled to give you its official premiere, along with special commentary below.
Comments Tom, the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter for CLTG: “This song was written while working two jobs in the middle of the pandemic. In the everyday, we’re forced to be apart of a system or structure we never asked for and the dream of freedom in any sense seems merely a wish. However, it is reality and whatever we process or internalize is not a dream; or if it is, we are living in that dream. We are experiencing cognizant thought and the out-of-body parallel, simultaneously. However high you climb does not undo the harsh reality of existence at large.”
Andy Wallis (Displaced/Replaced) adds:
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎 “𝑠𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡”.
“From the harsh sweatshop-like conditions of those making the devices, to the “burner boys” in Agbogbloshie (Ghana) who receive unwanted technology and breathe in toxic fumes from burning off plastic to then sell the copper wiring. To the class inequalities that are present in most societies, and to the pollution that comes as a result from these technologies which contribute to the suffocation of the planet. All of these consequences may be a “sadistic gift” delivered from those who control and drive the never-ending desire for the next new device.”
Children’s Letters to God is an aggressive response to an unstable time in history, dealing with personal loss, uncertainty, and the chaos in between.
Dabbling with elements of crust, grind, and hardcore, the band lets blast beats pummel the senses; yet, never straying too far from the melodic interludes that make screamo great. Tom Rabon (Exhalants) and Scott Osment (Deaf Club) have set out to make the music that inspires their outlook on hardcore- fast and angular, but with harmony and catchy riffs. The funny thing about letters to God, is that they never make it.
