37

37. Evil Friends - Portugal. The Man (2013)

Alternative Rock

Evil Friends is Portugal. The Man’s counter-culture manifesto. It’s incendiary, provocative, obscene and offensive to just about every traditionalist sensibility imaginable. It’s packed with blatant criticisms of American society, celebrity culture, religion and war-mongering, while embracing escapism by means of drugs, satanism (read: hedonism) and solipsism. While on the surface, the revolution proposed on Evil Friends seems to be directed against these things it criticizes, it feels much more like a response to the hopelessness endemic in today’s younger generations and castigated communities, with “evil” standing in for “defiant non-conformity”, rather than true malevolence.

“Purple, Yellow, Red and Blue” shamelessly glorifies retreating to pills as a means of coping with the helplessness that abounds for many young people today when they pause to think about the prospects their future holds or the stresses of growing up enveloped within in the social media landscape. “Modern Jesus” is the crowning jewel of the album, a brilliant anthem for those occupying those castes of society that have become all too accustomed to being exploited, disregarded, ignored and at times overtly attacked. “Don’t pray for us”, singer John Gourley implores, “we don’t need no modern Jesus to roll with us, the only rule we have is never giving up, the only faith we have is faith in us.” It’s a bitter rejection of the thinly veiled apathy disguised as politically correct sympathy for the plight of certain communities. And there’s strength to be gleaned from the message for the disenfranchised ones the song speaks to.

*image; cover art for the album Evil Friends by Portugal. The Man