The Books A Cold Freezin Night

The ballsiest song in The Books"˜ catalog, which is filled with ballsy songs, is "Motherless Bastard."  The song opens with a horrifying field recording of a father denying that he is his little girl's dad.  The upsetting dialogue suddenly gives way to a rustic duet between acoustic guitars.  The production is stellar, and the melodies are unabashedly gorgeous.  Now, on The Books' latest song to leak from The Way Out, their forthcoming album from Temporary Residence, takes the same track, using some terrifying vocal samples from children.  One little boy vividly recounts the ways that he could kill you:  "I can kill you with a rifle, a shotgun, any way I want to.  Probably cutting your toes and working my up toward your brain."  Yikes.  But underneath the violent imaginations of children, the duo have composed a fundamentally unsound beat that suddenly bursts with borrowed sounds: whistles, screams, harmonicas, electronic rushes, bird calls.  The whole sounds like it's on the verge of collapse, and it's a thrillingly unnerving listen.