Conscious Pilot unravel creative obsession on new single ‘Horatio Burns’
Glasgow-based post-punk outfit Conscious Pilot dive into artistic frustration, isolation and self-destruction on their new single ‘Horatio Burns’, lifted from their debut album Human Poultry.
Fast-moving, wiry and darkly funny, the track follows the fictional story of a struggling filmmaker gradually collapsing under the weight of his own ambition. Inspired by Richard Ayoade’s novel The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, the song traces a protagonist so consumed by his work that he becomes trapped in an increasingly chaotic cycle of resentment, control and creative desperation.
Beneath the satire sits something more personal. The band use the character as a reflection of their own complicated relationship with creative industries, balancing frustration with a stubborn determination to keep making things independently regardless of the obstacles involved.
Musically, ‘Horatio Burns’ captures Conscious Pilot at their most immediate and infectious. Propulsive guitars, restless rhythms and emotionally charged hooks give the track a kinetic momentum that turns post-punk tension into something strangely uplifting and danceable.
Recorded at RAK Studios with producers Seth Evans and Adele Phillips, the single further establishes Conscious Pilot as one of the UK underground’s sharpest emerging voices, balancing wit, anxiety and raw energy in equal measure.