Lincoln’s Future Theory have distilled a uniquely modern affliction into their new single, “Reality Buzz.” It’s the specific sound of a cheap energy drink fizzing next to an overdue bill. A nervous, propulsive energy runs through the track, a driving alt-rock current that feels like trying to walk in a straight line while the world tilts on its axis. The guitars, steeped in a satisfying psych-grunge haze, don’t just strum; they seem to be climbing over each other, trying to get to higher ground.
This isn’t just noise, though. There’s a fascinating narrative of defiance stitched into the fabric of the song’s atmospheric churn. We’re hearing someone navigate a world of daily indignities and decide, quite consciously, to be magnificent anyway.
This act of pretending—of mentally crowning oneself amidst the squalor—reminds me, strangely, of the Barracks Emperors of 3rd-century Rome. Men who, surrounded by chaos and imperial decay, simply decided they were in charge, their power forged from little more than sheer will and a loyal few. This is that feeling, translated through shoegaze textures and post-rock ambition. It’s a coronation of the self.
The song finds its glamour in the muck, a flash of imagined velvet in a gritty reality. There’s a profound strength in its central idea: that your identity isn’t what the world hands you, but what you have the guts to claim. A personal celebration made of cheap thrills and brute-force imagination.
“Reality Buzz” doesn’t offer an escape hatch from the overwhelming hum of modern life. Instead, it offers a strategy for living within it. The track fades, but its central question lingers like a ghost in the static: what happens when you decide the kingdom inside your own head is the only one that truly matters?
