Viagra Boys are a band whose emotional depth has often been under-appreciated. Beyond the insane paranoia, satirising of the far right and general insanity that dominate their songs, tracks such as ‘I Feel Alive’ carry an unexpected weight. They’re honest, with ‘I Feel Alive’ in particular showing a balanced view on drugs: why they’re, how fun they can be, as well as how bad their effects really are. As frontman Sebastian Murphy put it in a 2019 interview with Beat Route Media, “drug addiction is… really fun but it’s also really not fun”. On their fourth studio album, viagr aboys, he writes from a more settled perspective. He’s engaged and, from what he’s said in press releases and interviews, living a much calmer life than he had been. In the face of a world that’s become more and more insane around them, the band have also decided to focus inwards. In spite of Murphy’s claim that the album is “a bit more simple and stupid”, their decision to focus less on society’s ills and more on their own has made the songwriting more, not less, complex.
A defining element of this is Murphy’s past catching up with him now he’s got a reason to want to live. On ‘Medicine for Horses’, he begins by exploring his self-destructive impulses – “I want to drive in to a wall and make us two dimensional” – and love of self-interested “freedom”: “Years ago, on the plains of North America, there weren’t no rules ‘bout nothing”. His fiancé, however, has made him want something more. The song makes use of Murphy’s absurd lyrical style to create something genuinely touching. Instrumentally, it shows clearly how the band has broadened their sound – it almost sounds like a ballad. ‘River King’ – the final track on the album – is even more stripped back, with little more going on instrumentally than piano and saxophone. It puts Murphy’s priorities into clear focus – “Looking at you, everything feels easy now”. He’s a man ready to settle down.
‘Pyramid of Health’, meanwhile, talks about the direct damage that years of “cigarettes for breakfast” has done to his health, and the daunting effort it’ll take to undo it. There’s an edge of social commentary to this, with Murphy taking aim at health influencers at odds with actual professionals – “some guy’s yelling in my ear about eating cactuses for breakfast”. But implicit within this is a man who’s genuinely committed to not dying. The song takes inspiration from classic rock, grunge and country, showing again that the band has developed not only in lyrical content but also in instrumentation.
This can also be seen in the more punky and less obviously emotive tracks. For example, ‘Store Policy’ deviates from the traditional Viagra Boys formula. Murphy’s vocals are cutting, sounding akin to Rage Against the Machine‘s Zack de la Rocha, while the drums are deep and thumping – sounding more like something in dance music than punk rock – and dovetail perfectly with the strong bass line. At points, the guitars emit a missile-like screech, and the song also has a bit of a dub-like groove to it. Lyrically, it’s one of a few tracks that focus on an exaggerated version of Murphy’s past self – he sings “only do drugs that are real hard to get”. This mirrors more closely the band’s earlier honesty about drug use, with upbeat instrumentation contrasting the lyrics. ‘Waterboy’ is similar: instead of a missile, the guitar buzzes in a way that’ll get stuck in your head. Murphy’s delivery is slightly slowed down, which is likewise catchy.
‘Uno II’ and ‘The Bog Body’, meanwhile, dive into the mundane elements of Murphy’s life, albeit in the least mundane way possible. The first takes the perspective of his dog and centres around regular trips to the vet due to dental problems. This has a similar paranoid tone to many songs on the band’s first three albums, with Murphy considering how disorientating it must be to be taken somewhere, put to sleep and wake up with less teeth. The song has a poppy chorus, with female backing vocals working perfectly alongside Murphy’s lead. ‘The Bog Body’, on the other hand, dramatises his fiancé’s love of history books. He sings about being jealous of a “bog woman” that one book focuses on, feeling that it gets more attention than him. Instrumentally, it blends the band’s usual sound with classic rock, drawing similarities to ‘Pyramid Health’ despite being more intense and featuring more of the band’s typical use of synths and saxophones.
viagr aboys is not an album without faults, however. ‘You N33d Me’ and ‘Dirty Boyz’ don’t deviate enough from the sound on their first three albums and, as a result, feel slightly forgettable. Some lyrics play a bit too much into internet culture in a way that can become cringeworthy quite quickly. For example, there are references to memes like “perpetual stew” and “gooning”, as well as frequently targeted online platform OnlyFans. These aren’t bad in themselves, and play into the general tone of Viagra Boys’ music, but come up too often to be passed by. Nevertheless, this is an excellent album. Both Murphy’s lyrics – which build upon his existing, underappreciated, talent for songwriting – and the expanded instrumental palette stand out and it shows that the band has moved forward.
