Yila ft Scroobius Pip - Astronaut

Scroobius Pip first showed up on my radar as he did for most people, at the side of his partner in crime Dan Le Sac on their (still to this day awesome) debut single Thou Shalt Always Kill.  Over time, Pip proved that that was not hyperbole, that he would bring gold on anything he worked on.  So in light of their soon to be released next album, I've been going on a bit of a trawl through their previous tunes.

This tune would be annoying if it wasn't so good.  It has that sort of thing some electronic music has where the combination of instruments, isolated on their own should sound annoying, but they come together beautifully.  From the sharp synth stabs that open the track and become more complex as the tune evolves to the pounding beat that swiftly underpins Pip's vocals, it feels like Yila's constructed a song played on childrens toys and ran it through a dirty batch of early 90's ecstasy. 

Yet it all works.  This rambling clattering collection of instruments quickly becomes a song of such astounding catchiness that you'll find yourself wandering along the road, chanting its chorus to yourself.  It's a perfect showcase of the way experimental music can still be accessible and dancy.

Pip is also on top form here.  Lyrically, he aims to deconstruct the idea that job titles, the roles we play in our day to day life define us.

In the first verse we see Pip as a child, rejecting the urges of his peers.  Pip didn't want GI Joe, he wanted obscure musicians and punk bands.  So the question, what do you want to be when you grow up is given a casual answer.  When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.

Almost immediately, Pip then begins to turn the idea on its head.  Despite not becoming an astronaut, Pip doesn't see this as a failure, it's simply that he doesn't see that one single job title as the be all and end all of his life.

He then proceeds to show the hollowness of such an idea.  He begins each sentence with the desire to be an astronaut, then proceeds to add multiple contradictory backstories to the statement.  After all,  an astronaut "with a lot of good friends and a family to support" is no more or less an astronaut than one "with no friends, other than the tv I bought"

In the final verse, Pip announces his real goal.  "When I grow up, I just want to evolve, into a person not defined just by their job or their role."  Life is for those willing to live it, here and now, without focusing on goals that don't have any real meaning to us as people.  If you want something, you should certainly work for it, but that thing you want is not all you are.  You are more than your job.

Not a bad message for three and a half minutes worth of pop music.

Posted in: Astronaut, Music, Music Review, Review, Scroobius Pip, Yila