The regency is strong
Black boots match my skeleton mask
And my instincts are all gone
Now I’m something to fear
The most dangerous idiot in any political movement is the one who has surrendered his ability to think and discovered, with tremendous satisfaction, that obedience provides a wonderful substitute for having a personality. Give him a uniform, a charismatic lunatic to worship, and a few convenient enemies, and suddenly the poor bastard believes himself an instrument of history. Fascism has always depended upon this peculiar species of enthusiastic mediocrity, the ordinary creep who mistakes submission for strength and cruelty for patriotic duty. With NATION NATION, New York City’s six-piece London Plane plunge into the diseased psychology of the true believer, serving up nearly three minutes of manic post-punk absurdity with enough political venom to make a demagogue choke on his own campaign slogans.
Produced by Carlos Dengler, formerly of Interpol, the track hurtles forward on frantic guitars, a muscular rhythmic charge, and feverish vocals that suggest somebody enjoying a spectacular psychological collapse. The hooks are infectious, the momentum almost indecently cheerful, and the whole grotesque enterprise resembles a fascist pep rally conducted by people who have consumed considerably more pharmaceuticals than their doctors would recommend.
“NATION NATION is sung from the perspective of the sycophant, the idiot-turned-weapon,” says frontman David Mosey. “We allowed ourselves to be a bit absurd on this song, and Dengler encouraged and embraced the eccentric, even demented side of the band. The bright, frenetic, blitzkrieg guitars and vocals suggest that our subject is probably high and quite ready to sacrifice himself on behalf of his dear leader. It is a somewhat uncomfortable place to be, but we put ourselves in his jackboots for nearly three minutes every time we perform the song.”
The accompanying video, directed by Zane Rizvi-Riemer and Max Burbey, takes this horrifying little proposition to its logical conclusion. Two ordinary-looking men knock on doors with the bland determination of political canvassers or religious missionaries, their apparent harmlessness gradually giving way to something considerably more sinister. Through Soviet-style expressionist imagery, exaggerated close-ups of leering faces, darting eyes, and hands dispensing pills, the film reveals an authoritarian recruitment operation unfolding beneath the reassuring appearance of everyday civic life. The pharmaceutical imagery recalls the Nazis’ documented use of methamphetamine.
In addition to the nonstop horrors on everyday doomscrolls in the modern era, the video draws upon the dystopian horrors of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, combining the chemical pacification and willing surrender of individual thought envisioned by Huxley with Orwell’s machinery of surveillance, ideological conformity, and manufactured enemies, through which ordinary citizens become enthusiastic accomplices in their own subjugation. Between the two dystopias lies the terrifying possibility that fascism requires remarkably little encouragement to spread, particularly when its foot soldiers have been convinced that obedience is a virtue and persecution a public service. Evil, apparently, has learned to smile politely before introducing itself.
Watch below:
NATION NATION appears on London Plane’s forthcoming third album, Villains Heroes Ghosts, expected in early 2027 via Declared Goods. Dengler’s first production work for another artist suggests an intriguing creative partnership, particularly for a band whose international membership has already brought considerable character to New York Howl (2018) and Bright Black (2022).
And in an era when political fanaticism increasingly resembles mass entertainment, London Plane have produced a savage reminder of how easily the jackboot finds another willing foot.
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