“Circle Breakers reckons with the changes in the world in the time since their previous record, with understandably dark results.” So we wrote of the new album by Portland, Oregon emo outfit The Taxpayers, forthcoming via Ernest Jenning Record Co., their first in over a decade. “Alongside the global pandemic, continued climate breakdown and turn towards reactionary politics were a series of personal tragedies too,” as we continued, “and the record sees The Taxpayers pushing through a seemingly unending experience of loss with both fury and hope for something better.”
With the release of the album fast approaching, The Taxpayers have shared brand new single ‘I Am One Thousand’. A song which takes on a different dimension of our troubled present. Teaching English learners within the public school system a few years ago, it dawned on lead Rob Taxpayer how so much of the world exists under the trauma of violence. In a single class were students from Afghanistan, Burma, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine, all of which are experiencing war to one degree or another.
“To suddenly have war thrust upon you. Unfathomable. But a reality for so many,” as Taxpayer says. “As part of a writing assignment, we were discussing the places we come from. A student from Burma was describing escaping the violence, and feeling guilt when thinking about family and friends who were not able to leave. At the end of the discussion, she said, ‘I left for my children. I live for the future’.” ‘I Am One Thousand’ is a song written for and dedicated to such people—those given no choice over the difficulties thrust upon them, yet reacting to the cruel, overwhelming present with hope and defiance.
Watch the video by Preston Spurlock below:
Circle Breaker will be released on the 21st March via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and you can pre-order it now.
