Stuck – “Deadlift”

As a gym rat, you don’t have to tell me twice that the culture has shifted for the worse in what used to be the perfect third place to escape and build community. Sure, it’s always going to have its obvious physical and mental health benefits, but zoom out of your own zone, and you’ll notice how there’s so much dysmorphia and dystopia around you. Young men looksmaxxing on steroid before their bodies have even hit 30. Double the dosage and add in TRT for the 35-and-over crowd. Everyone is armed with a tripod to get that perfect thirst trap to post up on their wannabe fitness influencer account. Everybody’s following one another on Instagram, and yet, nobody’s really talking to one another in person.

Stuck’s read of the room gets it right, uneasily so on “Deadlift”, the latest preview from the Chicago post-punks’ new album, Optimizer. “I never feel so alone / When the weight hits the floors / Will anybody be there / When the barbell falls?,” Greg Obis asks in its chorus. Backed by riffs sticking to routine and a building muscle tension exacted in an intense anaerobic state, there’s something terrifying when you really start to realize those posing room mirrors may as well be black mirrors due to everyone living inside their screens. The men are indeed crying at the gym. You just can’t see it in their vacant eyes, and I’m not sure if they’re even aware of just how far gone they are either.

Directed by: Austin Vesely