"i’ve been hanging to the dregs of the last of my moral compass / i’ve been scraping the remaining frostbite off america’s carcass..."
The bloodletting, American existential dread and trauma of "STATISTICALLY ME", by Houston's indie / emo/ lowercase art project oh, hooray, cuts deeply, ravagely and, to me (an old guy) feels even more emotionally potent to the young and very young. The song, artistically, is beautiful in it's constructions, it's lyrical reflections, is spatial political awareness and it's directness and oh, how I love the surprising orchestrations of sounds. It swings deeply personal but really wide too, if feels communal (both like a wide world embrace or contagion). It rushes like it is out of breath but inhales deeply like when you are just sick of life and the only thing you can count on, muster up are small kernels of hope.
I love everything about this track. I love lead singer / primary songwriter Jamie McDonald's vocal countenance and the way he wears his pain both candidly and artfully. While descriptors might not be all that important, I do feel that the sound here is so wide sweeping as to feel like it could have been created since around the late 90's. I feel an algamic emotional sticky paste of Arcade Fire (circa Funeral), Jeff Rosenstock (circa Worry), Los Campesinos! (circa Sick Scenes) and Death Cab for Cutie (circa Something About Airplanes) with ghostly apparations of Sparklehorse.
"STATISTICALLY ME" is from oh, hooray's 2026 sophomore album "THE CITY HAS TEETH I THINK I SAW THEM ONCE".
I have not yet delved into the entire album but hope to soon enough.
-Robb Donker Curtius
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[STATISTICALLY ME is an alt/folk quick burn that pulls you through oh, hooray's desperation for meaning in a capitalist hell hole. It is hopeful, it is angry, it is tired and it is triumphant. As hooray screams "I don't want it anymore" the audience is driven into the real intent of the song; leave behind nihilism in the search for autonomy and community.]
LYRICS
i’ve been hanging to the dregs of the last of my moral compass
i’ve been scraping the remaining frostbite off america’s carcass
i’ve been sick for three weeks, i’ve held myself hostage
i’ve been hiding my face cause i don’t wanna look like this
today i woke up wishing i didn’t
collecting the last cut of my unemployment
i tried to be right, right in the middle of it
but it’s an eye of storm that i stopped chasin’
so the day that i die i’ll be in blissful anonymity
just a percentage on a screen
statistically me
so i let fall deep into the deep deep margins
saw the city growin teeth no survivors no more islands
saw the aluminum wing in the salt of the ocean
saw my name on an epitaph and i stood before it
but sara i wanna see the faces of our children
i wanna know they lie in the shade of the trees we planted
never knew i was close but i was headed right towards it
saw the end of my life but now i don’t want it
i don’t want it anymore
the day that i die
i’ll live in blissful anonymityjust a percentage on a screen
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!i’ve been hanging to the dregs of the last of my moral compass
i’ve been scraping the remaining frostbite off america’s carcass
i’ve been sick for three weeks, i’ve held myself hostage
i’ve been hiding my face cause i don’t wanna look like this
today i woke up wishing i didn’t
collecting the last cut of my unemployment
i tried to be right, right in the middle of it
but it’s an eye of storm that i stopped chasin’
so the day that i die i’ll be in blissful anonymity
just a percentage on a screen
statistically me
so i let fall deep into the deep deep margins
saw the city growin teeth no survivors no more islands
saw the aluminum wing in the salt of the ocean
saw my name on an epitaph and i stood before it
but sara i wanna see the faces of our children
i wanna know they lie in the shade of the trees we planted
never knew i was close but i was headed right towards it
saw the end of my life but now i don’t want it
i don’t want it anymore
the day that i die
i’ll live in blissful anonymityjust a percentage on a screen
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/42pCiyYCYJPCpV0YfjYeUW
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Eqs8R6zL-l5BKwX-fnGow
https://www.instagram.com/ohooray/
https://www.facebook.com/ohooray
oh, hooray is an art project that makes celebratory sad music. By exploring multi-media as an extension of their music (film, stop motion photography, theatre, dance, etc.). oh, hooray has been featured on NPR for their tiny desk contest submissions and was selected to perform in the 2025 mixMATCH festival. They are currently releasing music from their new record "the city has teeth i think i saw them once" and will be doing so throughout all of 2025.
oh, hooray, Houston Texas, art pop, alt folk, indie rock, emo indie, alt pop, personal, diaristic, primary songwriter Jamie McDonald, "STATISTICALLY ME", 2026 album "THE CITY HAS TEETH I THINK I SAW THEM ONCE",
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Eqs8R6zL-l5BKwX-fnGow
https://www.instagram.com/ohooray/
https://www.facebook.com/ohooray
oh, hooray is an art project that makes celebratory sad music. By exploring multi-media as an extension of their music (film, stop motion photography, theatre, dance, etc.). oh, hooray has been featured on NPR for their tiny desk contest submissions and was selected to perform in the 2025 mixMATCH festival. They are currently releasing music from their new record "the city has teeth i think i saw them once" and will be doing so throughout all of 2025.
oh, hooray, Houston Texas, art pop, alt folk, indie rock, emo indie, alt pop, personal, diaristic, primary songwriter Jamie McDonald, "STATISTICALLY ME", 2026 album "THE CITY HAS TEETH I THINK I SAW THEM ONCE",
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