The Wheel Workers premiere two hard-charging anti-Trump tracks
The problem with too much political art is that it relies on you already agreeing with the statement it’s making in order for you to appreciate the art itself. Either overly bellicose or overly self-satisfied, it loses force through the expectation of preordained sympathy. By contrast, successful political art foregrounds the artistry while making a statement that isn’t just applicable for a limited time. “White Lies/All My Fault,” the new split single from Houston-based band The Wheel Workers—premiering exclusively at The A.V. Club—may be a pair of songs aimed straight at Donald Trump and the 2016 election, but musically and lyrically, it extends far beyond the political heat of the moment. The first track, a Devo-like jittery rave-up of angular riffs and vocals spit out with bile, rails against the ease with which falsity is taken for truth, while the fluid and downbeat melodies of “All My Fault” call out the “hateful clown” of a candidate explicitly, but spreads to a broader self-indictment of the culture that spawned him.