Young Galaxy - "Talk To Her". Young Galaxy cut one of my favourite Ultramarine songs from their final edit of the album. "Talk To Her" is too sentimental, maybe; too on-the-nose. But for me the beauty of it is that it's sentimental, right on the nose: like a monologue by Salinger's Zooey or Buddy Glass, like an Annie Lennox song or the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" Sometimes what we need, as lost & wandering listeners, is the plainest straightest advice. Sometimes we need a mitt full of fortune-cookie slips, a volley of arrows sent straight to our hearts,.

A few days ago, I was arguing with a couple of friends about REM's "Everybody Hurts". I remember one of my teachers pulling it out in eighth grade, using the lyrics as an example in our Poetry unit. I used this as evidence of "Everybody Hurts"' feebleness: verse for eighth-graders, for people who don't even understand what a poem is. But A, J and M had "Everybody Hurts"' back. They weren't going to let it hit the mat. Sure, they said, "Everybody Hurts" seems obvious. But it's true. Not only is it true: it wasn't always so obvious. Before that song existed in the world, it wasn't yet a cliché. Just like the video, which now seems archetypal - it became an archetype when it fit so perfectly into civilization. "Everybody Hurts" is direct, unsubtle; but as Carl Wilson spent a hundred pages discovering, there's a virtue to direct, unsubtle music. It serves a function. At certain times, it sings.

"Talk To Her" is about a million times more subtle, more artful, than "Everybody Hurts". But Catherine McCandless's pearly chorus could be crucial advice for certain eighth-graders (and a fair handful of thirtysomethings). The song doesn't disguise its prescriptions - it holds them up on a splendid platter.

More than that, as almost-always, there's melody, harmony, rhythm & timbre. There's the gorgeous lilting march of this song. It's brittle and diaphonous, glittering and hazy. Pricks of Dan Lissvik's plucked strings, Stephen Kamp's unconfused bass, a whirling and winning final synth. The chorus is a showpiece for Ultramarine's tropical ice, warm springs & space & pastel reflections. It's a hothouse I want to winter in, a frosted dancefloor under a sequinned disco-ball. Earlier, I mentioned Annie Lennox; this time I'm going to come right out and say "Walking On Broken Glass".

"Talk To Her" appears on the Deluxe edition of Ultramarine, which is out now. [buy]

(Images from the incomparable Middle and Off)