Patrick Stickles shaved his beard, and it’s showing. On new single “In a Big City,” the Titus Andronicus front man persists in penning the purpose of life and personal identity. Lyrically, the track treads similar territory to anything and everything off of 2010’s essential album The Monitor (one that meshed Civil War concepts with Stickles’ own discontent in his New Jersey upbringing), yet the absence of the epic-ness and urgency the idea of being in a battle zone unleashed onto that album is very much noticed on “In a Big City.”
The song is still a stomping-guitar-riffing-good-time, though. The snares and kick pound out an easy beat almost impossible not to nod your head to, while Stickles rants all over the track — apparently with the ability to avoid taking a breath. Stickles’ existential themes remain the butter for the band’s toast, and on “In a Big City” he’s smeared that sarcastic shit as far as the crusts. The snares build at the two-thirds mark, and the track triumphantly breaks as Stickles howls that he’s a robot, disses consumerism, and, well, discusses wiping his own ass — talk about an exultation.
There’s no mistaking “In a Big City” for being anything but a Titus track: it wallows in sarcasm, self-degradation, and most importantly sincerity. Yet, it (and the rest of Local Business) sounds toned down: the pace is slower, and the instrumentation is even scaled back. Maybe Titus Andronicus is showing signs of maturing, or maybe they’re just gathering their belongings and heading out in a new direction in the wake of Monitor.