Viagra Boys and the simple charms of love

In his critically acclaimed Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave, American comedian Tim Robinson specialises in lampooning a very particular brand of insecure, overcompensating manhood.

- Bhanuj Kappal

In his critically acclaimed Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave, American comedian Tim Robinson specialises in lampooning a very particular brand of insecure, overcompensating manhood. His sketches are full of men whose inability to fit into a changing world leads to outbursts of impotent rage, self-loathing manifesting as deeply embarrassing misanthropy. These are men who mistake Wikipedia factoids for actual knowledge, who ruin parties and funerals with their misguided self-righteousness, whose refusal to admit their own ignorance leads them down increasingly dark and absurd rabbit holes.

So exactly the sort of men that populate Viagra Boys, the absurd, hilarious and occasionally grotesque fourth album by Swedish post-punk group Viagra Boys. Since forming in 2015, the sextet—helmed by slouching, beer-bellied American transplant Sebastian Murphy—have excelled at blending brutalist post-punk with gauche, tongue-in-cheek political satire. Their 2018 debut album Street Worms was a brutally effective putdown of hypermasculinity and Sweden's rising far-right, while 2022's Cave World was steeped in commentary about gun violence, conspiracy theories and online right-wing cults.