Energy Whores Confront Collapse with ‘Arsenal of Democracy’
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
There’s no mistaking the tension running through Arsenal of Democracy, the latest album from New York avant-electro project Energy Whores. From its opening moments, the record refuses comfort. It hums, pulses, advances. It doesn’t invite you in so much as ask what you’re doing here — and whether you’ve been paying attention…
Led by Carrie Schoenfeld, Energy Whores has always operated in a space between art-rock, electronic experimentation, and political provocation. But Arsenal of Democracy feels sharper, more distilled. The title track — which also serves as the album’s lead single — sets the tone with restrained defiance. Over a steady electronic groove layered with electric guitars and programmed rhythms, Schoenfeld delivers a warning rather than a rallying cry. Democracy, the song suggests, doesn’t collapse overnight. It erodes quietly, when people look away.
The album was recorded in a DIY basement studio in New York City, and that hands-on process gives the project its edge. There’s no gloss here, no corporate sheen. Synths grind against guitar lines. Electronic drums feel mechanical but urgent. The production builds through layering and experimentation rather than formula. It’s meticulous without sounding polished into submission.
Across the record, Energy Whores dissects modern spectacle. Pretty Sparkly Things skewers consumer distraction and the cult of surface. Hey Hey Hate examines the machinery of outrage and how easily it can be weaponised. On Mach9ne and Bunker Man, the lens shifts toward technological dominance and elite survivalism — dystopian themes that feel less speculative than observational. The closing track, Two Minutes to Midnight, slows the pulse into something heavier, almost funereal, meditating on proximity to irreversible consequences.
Comparisons to Talking Heads, Radiohead, Massive Attack, St. Vincent, and Rage Against The Machine make sense sonically, but Energy Whores isn’t chasing nostalgia. The project isn’t retro protest music or genre cosplay. It sits in a liminal space: danceable but uneasy, melodic but confrontational, electronic yet emotionally raw.
Schoenfeld’s background in film and theatre adds another dimension. The project extends beyond music into video, visual art, and design — all created in-house — giving Arsenal of Democracy a cohesive aesthetic that feels intentional rather than decorative. The visual component of the title track reinforces its message: this is not a metaphorical arsenal. It’s about attention, participation, and responsibility.
What makes Arsenal of Democracy resonate is its refusal to hand out easy answers. There are no slogans designed for social feeds. Instead, the album insists on something less comfortable: accountability. It suggests that disengagement is complicity, and that distraction is a luxury history rarely affords.
In a cultural moment saturated with noise, Energy Whores offers something sharper — not escapism, but confrontation. And sometimes confrontation is the most honest form of art.