Lightning Dust - "Listened On"

You can reach into the middle of this song, to its core, and hold on to it for the support you need. No matter what goes on around it, that voice, it walks like a pre-teen in high heels, wobbly ankles, it's so true and sad, and it doesn't kid around. If you've ever cut down a Christmas tree, you know what I'm talking about. You can reach right in, past the needles and branches, the ne'er-do-much strumming and the merely periphery organ, and hold on to that voice to keep your balance, to grab hold when the bottom falls out, to carry it home with you. She sings like she'd never look you in the eye. [release in July]

Mirah & Spectratone International - "Community"

A bassy and treblesome science project of a song. It's about human interaction, but largely about attraction via pheromones. "It's an expressive art, instinctually smart." And as the odd timing and two-stepping voice floats along the air, I think about the relationship between instinct and art. Is there something ingrained in this song, something inherent and innate (if this song were born of Mirah's mouth-womb and Spectratone's sound box) that makes me love it? Does her voice sound like she is especially fertile? Do the guitars sound like a warning siren to my predators, indicating kinship? Is my evolutionary need for productivity drawn to the end refrain of "We get things done"? I assume all these answers are yes, and that my love of any art is not because of any ability to appreciate craft, but rather a drooling, glaring attraction to growth, survival, and progress. [Buy old stuff]