Occasionally with song titles
I'm stuck in a loop wondering which came first, the title or the song itself? I
know usually the title will come last, the Beatles' "Yesterday"
was famously demoed as "Scrambled
Eggs," but in some cases the music seems tailored to the title. I'm
convinced Built to Spill's Doug Martsch figured out how to get the bands
guitars to echo into infinity after scrawling the title "Randy Described
Eternity" on a piece of paper. The most likely reason for "Anarchy
in the U.K."'s sound is that the mangy Sex Pistols wanted to match the
calamity suggested in the rebellious title.
Brooklyn electronic pop outfit
Lemonade's new song "Come Down Softly" belongs in this category.
"Come Down Softly" suggests a slow, feathery fall onto a mattress and
that's the mood Callan Clendenin and company fashion here. Clendenin's voice
hardly rises above a whisper. Alex Pasternak's drums alternate between thump
and unobtrusive ticking. The group's tropical flavored synthesizers wash
over everything like waves from a lagoon. At a critical juncture Clendenin soulfully murmurs "a place that I know, this time I'm not alone, the hair bangs on your shoulder breaks my fall." There's no gigantic drop-off, just a gentle ride into the sunset.
Lemonade's third LP Minus Tide is out on Cascine September 9.
On enigmatic producer SOPHIE's
latest track "Lemonade," there's what sounds like a balloon slowly
deflating throughout the song's all too brief two minutes. Considering the
high-pitched double Dutch chants of "Le-le-lemonade" and
"Ca-ca-candy Boys" the U.K. artist overlays, it's a fitting sound. "Lemonade"
is like a kid's birthday party where nothing seems to be going right. The
bouncy house has sprung a leak. The magician is running 20 minutes late.
Parents are arguing in the other room. And one child just bit another one. There's unmistakable playfulness in the air, but the gloomy side of the tracks
is within sight.
In the case of "Lemonade,"
SOPHIE's first effort since last summer's "Bipp," the
sinister and sunny are wrapped up in the same chorus. His influence on the thriving PC Music crew is unmistakable, poppy fluctuations in mood come fast and furiously. "I've got something
to tell you, I hope you understand, I never meant to hurt you, it wasn't in my
plans," a head rushing Chipmunk voice confesses with stuttering
electronics before low-end bass static interrupts. Like one of the hyperactive
kids at that birthday though, the heartbreak is forgotten about in an instant
and its back to Fizzy Lifting Drink hiccups and the familiar deflating sound.
Falling in and out of love is much easier when you're young.
(The Souncloud link to "Lemonade" currently isn't working, but the "Lemonade"/"Hard" single is out August 5 through Numbers.)
