Listen closely to “You Will Be Fine (And Other Lies),” the latest single from Kingston, ON quirk-rocker Five.X.Five. What sounds to the idle ear like a jaunty, upbeat anthem is actually something closer to what its sardonic title suggests: a wry, vaguely surreal, sometimes even horrific portrait of life under watchful eyes.

Like a guided missile flying not over but straight into the proverbial cuckoo’s nest, the irresistibly immediate track rockets us into the dark heart of an unspecified institution where there’s “No TV allowed in the breakfast room” and “You stare at the wall like a friend.” Amid the enforced quiet, the only noise comes from the nameless authorities who “shout the punishment/ For mounting your own defence.”