Kyshera - Mannequins

'Mannequins' is an Alternative Rock song & the 7th song on the 2012 Kyshera album 'Made In China'. The words, music & production are by James Kennedy.

'Mannequins' is one of only 3 'accessible' songs on the 'Made In China' album (the other 2 being 'Shelf Life' & 'Superstar') and all 3 of these songs are placed together in the middle of the album. Kennedy has said that just as a song needs tension AND release in order for either of those techniques to work, he felt that 'Made In China' as an album needed a 'cool down' in the middle in order to avoid content fatigue in the listener and in order for the 2nd half of the album to hit even harder. Given that all of the tracks on the album are joined together & there isn't a second of silence anywhere on the album, Kennedy wanted to inject some melodic relief in to what is otherwise a pretty dense & relentless album. The songs weren't written for this purpose & were already recorded, but Kennedy consciously chose their placement on the album for the above reasons. 'Mannequins' is an upbeat, groove & riff heavy song which for many years was always the last song that Kyshera played at their shows and was always a live favourite.

'Mannequins' overlaps from the outtro of the previous song 'Shelf Life' & the song is based around Kennedy's trademark B9 guitar tuning (B, F#, B, F#, B, C#) with it's main riff being a funky, syncopated riff with large jumps in interval. Matt Warr's Bass is distorted throughout. The Pre-Chorus features an almost 'Rap' like vocal performance with a funky rhythm section groove underneath before the dynamic chorus with it's message of political activism. The Middle 8 features layers of percussion as the band jams around a Chromatic riff.

Lyrically, the song criticises anyone or any institution with the power to affect change but doesn't. Kennedy goes after celebrities, the scientific community & anyone who has any kind of 'platform' to 'speak for the voiceless'. The Chorus contains the classic line 'Silence is compliance with the criminals'. As the last chord fades away, the next song 'Superstar' enters, continuing the theme of there being not a single second of silence anywhere on the album.

LYRICS

Silence, is it a yes or a no ?
Or does it just keep celebrities afloat ?
Like the swiss, say they’re neutral
But they’re quick enough to take the gold.

You got money, got a platform and influence
But you use it to spread hedonistic ignorance
‘Cos your hands are filthy from those bloodstained paycheques.
You’re just Mannequins for the system
You’d wear genocide if Gap would pay enough
And in return you lower the standards of our culture.

Everyone use your station
Speak for the voiceless
Silence is compliance
With the criminals.

Science, who’s side are you on ?
You’re an accessory to tyranny
And you are solely to blame
For the misuse of your technology.

You give us medicine but you also gave us the disease
Nothing more than a prostitute with expertise
When you could do only good.
Like a torturer that’s only following their orders
Protecting lies while the truth is poisoning
And I hope the ghosts of all your victims will haunt you.

But in Politics, in Science and Art
Who pays the piper calls the tune
But who needs who?
Who needs who?

Everyone use your station
Speak for the voiceless
Silence is compliance
With the criminals
House of cards, when it burns down
You’ll be in there too