Good Boy

The title carries its irony lightly — the self-description of someone applying an external standard to an internal experience, the slight absurdity of seeking approval on one's own terms. "Good Boy" is one of The Black Skirts' more playful exercises, the production carrying an energy that sits just on the bright side of wistfulness: guitar with a bit more attack, a rhythm section that doesn't drag, a quality of forward momentum that distinguishes it from 조혜준's more ruminative work. Vocally he adopts a slightly self-aware register, the deadpan performance of sincerity that Korean indie does so well — you're never quite sure where the earnestness ends and the commentary begins, which is the point. Lyrically the song examines compliance and its costs, the negotiation between social performance and private selfhood that everyone undertakes and few songs acknowledge directly. There's something of the coming-of-age tradition here — the good boy who is good because the alternative hasn't yet clarified itself — but complicated by adult knowledge that the alternative also has its costs. Best heard by anyone who has ever gotten something they thought they wanted and felt confused about it.