Andy Smythe is one of those long-haul British songwriters who never really left the circuit. Based in London, he’s eight albums deep, still writing politically loaded folk-rock in small studios and taking the songs out to folk clubs and festival stages with his band. Quiet Revolution, his next record, leans into that side of him completely: big ideas about power, AI, and the future of society, delivered by a guy who still plays most of the parts himself.
“Leviathan” is the bouncy, slightly odd protest tune on the front of it. The groove has a folk-rock/ska tilt, built on bright strummed guitars, organ stabs, a busy cymbal pattern and a walking bassline that keeps everything moving. Smythe blows blues harp over the top and sings in a clear, very English voice, threading lines about strongmen, broken institutions and fantasy world-governments into something that somehow feels like a street parade. The mood is light on the surface, almost carnival, while the lyric worries about who gets to hold the controls.
For sync, “Leviathan” fits political and social-issue projects that don’t want to sound grim: current-affairs docs, satirical news shows, protest or climate montages, election coverage, or closing credits for dramas that touch on power, corruption, democracy, or big-system failure but still leave a bit of optimism in the air.
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