Despite the pandemic and other various 2020-induced anxieties we’re all feeling right now, the answer to the titular question of Rich Jones and Montana Macks’ new album How do you sleep at night? is a little more complex than just “Melatonin and one less cup of coffee per day.” The Chicago duo are instead confronting the leadership that’s abetted our mounting national anxieties—which since this summer have mainly been separate from the current global pandemic—as heard on the latest taste of the record.
“I wrote this song in the days following some friends and others being injured by the CPD at a rally downtown [Chicago],” Jones explains of the project’s title track. “While this wasn’t the first time this had happened last summer, it especially pissed me off following weeks of listening to our mayor bold face lie again and again about how these officers had shown professionalism and restraint. What happened to my friends isn’t my story to tell but I’ll just say that restraint and professionalism are not the words I would use in the slightest. Throw in several months of being bombarded with disinformation regarding the pandemic and our futures via leadership in D.C. and I hope you’d understand why I felt and still feel pressed!”
The track is commendably restrained—even soothing—in its anger, the minimalist hip-hop instrumentation leaving more space for the pair to air their grievances over. “It’s made me thoroughly question the motives and consciences of those we’ve elected to work for us,” Jones continues. “How come it’s so easy to get in front of a mic and lie day in and day out? How do you sit with yourself? How do you sleep at night? Unfortunately, I fear they do so far too soundly.”
Stream the track below.
