Neuro Placid - Talking like a Supervillain
Words: Eerie Rose Single Artwork Photo: @lousmithphoto and edit @barmoury
It’s our third time covering a Neuro Placid single - we’ve been following the character arc of Ollie Brown’s alter-ego antagonist since he first crept into our consciousness back in 2022 with the track ‘Silly in the Mental.’ This latest track, ‘Talking like a Supervillain,’ is possibly the most vulnerable, and most dark, piece so far. Exploring themes of abuse cycles, the song looks at the illusory truth effect: the idea that “you tell me I’m something enough times, I’m going to believe I’m that,” and seeks to delve into the way our psyche can be shaped by false information, leading us to believe terrible things about ourselves that might not really be true. Being told you’re a bad person constantly can result in you living up to the title, or at least having intrusive thoughts that may make you question your position on the scales of good vs. evil.
A strong follow up to the success of the last single ‘MDMA,’ this new work sees a continuation of Neuro Placid’s use of simplistic but sharp and effective composition, with a catchy bassline that supports and drives a groove and defines song structure, but allows the vocals and lyrics to be centre stage throughout. The point of the track is hammered home with the classic quick wit laced with humour that Neuro Placid is known for, making it easy to hear him out on even his most terrible thoughts. ‘Talking like a Supervillain’ takes us on a journey through the most twisted parts of Neuro Placid’s mind, and we can see perhaps his persona as an outcome of abuse - driven to darkness out of desperation, or living up to the only outcome he sees possible for himself. It’s a real issue that happens in day-to-day life, and through this hyperbole of the Neuro Placid character we’re able to see a little bit about Brown’s own experiences and insecurities, and can possibly relate ourselves to the nature of intrusive thoughts making us scrutinise our own capacity to be a bad person.
The reality of the human experience is that there is no such thing as a perfect person, we’re all flawed and damaged and as capable of harm as each other, no matter how much we may shape our instagram profiles to say otherwise. You can virtue signal as much as you like, but deep down all of us have had to start somewhere, and have probably had at least some dark thoughts if not also dark actions at some stage or another, however we are often too afraid to own that part of our history for fear of getting cancelled. What is so fascinating to me about the character of Neuro Placid is not only the fact that Ollie Brown is not afraid to present his alter-ego as a literal villain, refusing to be palatable or PC, but that this project allows him to talk about aspects of society that most of us would rather shove under the carpet out of sight; parts of our own identities that we’d prefer to keep hidden. Creating this character frees him from the constraints of having to constantly present to the world as good, and perhaps this can start dialogue about us doing this in our own personal lives. In order to become better people, perhaps admitting that we haven’t always been so can be a positive thing - after all, growth has to start somewhere.
“Talking like a Super Villain is a song about the illusory truth effect: “the tendency to believe false information is true after being exposed to it repeatedly.” The other day a friend asked me if I’d slap a family member as an example of morals. I thought about the images that flash in my head often of me doing violent things and I told them ‘yes’ in an uncertain tone. It made me realise I forgot to acknowledge that my intrusive thoughts are just intrusive thoughts. I’ve never caused that kind of scene with anyone so I wanted to write a song about that. If you’re an abuse victim for a very long time then violence becomes your language. I’ve put out a violent song because I want to remind people like me that these thoughts are okay to have occasionally. Talk about them in a safe space and make sure you don’t do them in real life.” - Neuro Placid
The track is out now on all streaming platforms, and you can stay up to date with live show announcements by following Neuro Placid on instagram.
