I feel like this video should come with a trigger warning, so consider yourself warned! Not because DISCREET’s new video for “Bug in a Jar” is gory or violent. It’s because this song feels like an onslaught of societal judgment about what makes us worthy to exist. Discreet is flipping over the rock and letting all of our painful memories scurry out to find a new hiding place. The vocals are plaintive and mournful just as much as they are scornful, and they make me think of friends who fell off the rails of what’s acceptable and didn’t have the energy to fight for their right to be alive. The relentless yet plodding drumbeat feels like other people’s superficial expectations raining down heavy on my hurt. The searing, dissonant riffs make me think about self-cruelty, enablers, fear, pain. Discreet is killing me softly with this song, staring into the glass cage where we put our wounded on display. It’s dedicated to Duncan Knappen (10/01/1987 – 3/22/2022). Their new LP This is Mine is out now on Convulse Records — get it here.
Video by Bryan Lee Taylor
