Naomi Hates Humans – Pipe Dreams And Lullabies

The Mag described her as “KT Tunstall with a chest infection and a broken hand”. Not having read the original article, I have no idea whether this was meant as the highest praise or the most damning criticism. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool. Its subject thinks it’s so good that she wants to put it on a t-shirt. But then, when you call yourself Naomi Hates Humans and your band is The Insufferable Fucks, a certain degree of provocative contrariness is to be expected.
“Work eat sleep, work eat sleep, work eat sleep, work eat sleep…” The rolling repetition of the song’s introductory lines is the perfect summary of its target: a zombie population sleeping through the best years of its life, “a generation of dreamers all waiting for a sign”. Hooked on TV, restless, utterly lacking in belief, anaesthetised by “drink and happy thoughts” and oblivious to the relentless passing of time.
The song is a snapshot, it doesn’t particularly build. Nevertheless, there’s a rawness to the sentiment, not to mention Naomi’s voice, which occasionally brings to mind legendary anarcho-punk veteran Vi Subversa of Poison Girls. The sentiments implied – stop dreaming and drifting, wake up, think for yourself – are also classic punk. Naomi proclaims her misanthropy, but I suspect that behind this surface fatalism there’s an immense love, manifest as frustration.
This review was written in November 2008 and originally published in DrunkenWerewolf issue 6 in February 2009. DrunkenWerewolf is published bi-monthly and covers new and unusual acts who operate in a roughly acoustic/indie/experimental vein. This EP and other Naomi Hates Humans releases are available here.