Enter Shikari: Lose Your Self
Enter Shikari’s new album, ‘Lose Your Self’, takes you by the hand and guides you through the uncertain times we are living in today. The unannounced record is heavier than some of the St Albans quartet’s previous work. And each track has been crafted with the idea for the album to be heard altogether, so listeners can hear its full messages – as Rou Reynolds (lead vocals) says: “We want people to go on a proper journey with this album, and see where it takes them.”
The opener, ‘LOSE YOUR SELF’, calls on fans who feel isolated from their community due to the online world to: “Be self made and infected/off-grid, disconnected”. With its great chorus for fans to sing along to, it’s going to create some epic festival moments.
‘Find Out The Hard Way...’ is Enter Shikari’s way of giving listeners a cautionary tale of how if we keep living our lives in the same way, we are pressing the self-destruct button on our world: “And if we don’t realise it now, we’re going to find out the hard way”. It makes us understand that as a society, we are fighting an uphill battle to help the environment and preserve humanity, but there is a sense of hope that we will be able to protect our planet.
‘Dead In The Water’ tells the story of a refugee who was “turned away at Dover” and is now drowning in the English Channel with no one to save them: “Dead, dead in the water/no one’s here fighting my corner”. Through this haunting song, Enter Shikari remind us that we must always be kind and empathetic to those that are different from us, and that we must do our bit to make everyone feel welcome in society, no matter where they are from.
‘Shipwrecked!’ shows Rou’s realisation that he is ashamed of the history of humanity and how he wishes he could change parts of our past: “Oh, how I long for a different story/From the one that we’ve been told”. This validates feelings of shame that so many of us have about the actions of those who have come before us, and it inspires us to write our own stories and to create a more inclusive world.
The closing ‘Spaceship Earth’ comes in three parts, representing an optimistic end to an album that encourages fans to question the ways of society. In ‘Spaceship Earth (III. Maestoso)’, the band provides us with a sense of hope that things will get better for us in the future: “Hold on, hold on/A change is gonna come”. This message of there being light at the end of the tunnel even during unpredictable times is something that we all need – it’s important for us to have something to aim for, so that we can begin to change our ways, as Rou says: “Shikari will always offer hope, because without hope there is no action”.
Overall, ‘Lose Your Self’ has shown that Enter Shikari are staying true to their values and that the messages of having hope for a positive change in society are here to stay. The band have shown that they have grown both musically and in terms of wisdom level, and they prove to us that it is important to have a more inclusive world. And, through the heavy riffs and emotional lyrics, Shikari once again do not lose themselves or their beliefs.