John Maus – “Running Man”

John Maus – “Running Man”

Last year, the experimental pop-music weirdo John Maus released his album Screen Memories, a sort of nebulous concept album about the apocalypse. Later this week, he’ll follow it up with a companion-piece album called Addendum. (Addendum is actually already available on vinyl, if you’re willing to pony up for a five-LP box set of John Maus albums, but the album will be available on its own on Friday.) That image above is the cover art, and it’s supposed to look like that; we’re not out here uploading low-res images.

We’ve already posted “Episode,” an early track from Addendum. Today, Maus has also shared “Running Man,” a song that could be based on a Stephen King short story, a great Arnold Schwarzenegger ’80s-violence post-apocalyptic action vehicle that was loosely based on that short story, or on an early-’90s dance craze. Maus’ lyrics are mostly just “I am, I am the running man,” so it’s hard to say for sure. All three could apply!

The song sounds like a synthpop track that’s a big hit in the discos of some lost underwater civilization. It’ll be interesting to see how Maus and his bandmates, if they add this song to their live show, turn it into a muscular anthem. Check it out below.

Addendum is out as a standalone album 5/18 on Ribbon Music.

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