Sufjan Stevens - john wayne gacy jr live, 2015

"Buried Dreams brings to vivid life the real John Wayne Gacy—his complex personality, compulsions, inadequacies, and torments—often in the murderer’s own words."

Agnes Obel - broken sleep, 2020

"the architect of eerie, otherworldy music that straddles neo-classical, jazz and chamber pop".

Genesis - follow you follow me, 1978

"Like much of the rest of the album, the slower, sentimental "Follow You Follow Me" was a departure from most of their previous work as a progressive rock band, featuring a simple melody, romantic lyrics and a verse-chorus structure. Although previous albums contained love ballads, such as Selling England by the Pound's "More Fool Me" and "Your Own Special Way" from Wind & Wuthering (1976), "Follow You Follow Me" was the first worldwide pop success by the group. The band felt that their music was attracting mainly male audiences, so this song was written specifically to redress the imbalance."

Pet Shop Boys - go west cover live, 2007

"Nothing better captures the tone of bittersweet joy and drama that permeates Very than PSB's cover of the Village People nugget, 'Go West'. Covered with thick layers of pillowy synths, the track swaps the male-bonding vibe of the original with a wistful demeanor that's lined with a pensive subtext of loss"

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - dreaming, 1988

"Stewart Mason, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, described the song as "dynamite", and wrote: "['Dreaming'] is easily the group's best single since 1983's 'Telegraph'... It's a near-perfect pop song, perhaps the last great single by an '80s synth-pop band." Classic Pop's Mark Lindores called it a "massively underrated OMD anthem". Conversely, McCluskey named "Dreaming" as a track he wishes OMD had never released, while criticising its lyrical content. The song has nevertheless been ranked among the best of 1988, and of all time."

Del Amitri - as soon as the tide comes in, 1992

"songs like the brilliant ‘As Soon As The Tide Comes In’ still maintained that folky storytelling vibe while ‘Just Like A Man’ introduced a soulful element to the repertoire. If I wasn’t already in love with Justin Currie’s writing then this album cemented the love affair for me – in fact, it is this album that I go back to again and again."

Saint Etienne - girl vii, 1991

"Girl VII proved a showpiece as Cracknell recited a list of the capital's least glamorous places ("Old Ford, Kennington, Dollis Hill") over a flute-filled tune that could have come from a 70s travelogue"

The New Pornographers - adventures in solitude, 2007

"it’s always a tricky balance of wanting lyrics that sound good — just the sound of the words — and then I know what I want the vocals to sound like but then I have to take that and try and create some kind of vague story, or some kind of motif, or a theme that runs through them. And that’s always a tricky balance. A lot of them are kind of cryptic relationship songs or something from my past that I’m writing about or some fictionalized version of the past but always written in so cryptic a way that nobody can tell what I’m writing about."

Electronic - tighten up album version, 1991

"Writing in Melody Maker, Paul Lester described the song as "the devastating marriage of Smiths guitars and New Order technology that nervously excited fans the globe over were anticipating from Electronic. Imagine a sublime splicing of 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' and 'Dream Attack', then multiply by 12". In Vox Keith Cameron wrote: "'Tighten Up' gives Marr a chance to relive The Smiths' halcyon days with an exhilarating semi-acoustic dynamism".

REM - try not to breathe, 1992

"Try Not to Breathe" is a pretty bleak command. And, indeed, the second track from R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People is about death. But the song's title originated with a much more innocuous statement. During the demo stages for the album, which would come out in October 1992, guitarist Peter Buck was recording the groundwork for a possible new tune on acoustic guitar. "We were doing the demo, and I had the mic for my guitar right up against my mouth. I was kind of huffing," Buck told Melody Maker in 1992. "So John [Keane], the engineer, said, 'You're making too much noise.' So I said, 'OK, take two. I'll try not to breathe.' I just meant that I wouldn't breathe during the take. But Michael [Stipe] heard it and said, 'Oh, that’s a nice title.'"

The House Of Love - audience with the mind, 1993

"Audience With the Mind was recorded following the departure of the band’s third successive lead guitarist in three years, Simon Mawby. This resulting in group leader Guy Chadwick recording most of the album’s guitar parts himself (although Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas provided additional acoustic and slide guitars). As had been the case on the band’s previous album, Babe Rainbow, former band member Andrea Heukamp provided backing vocals."

Pedro Abrunhosa - momento uma espécie de céu, 2002

"His album Momento (2002) was written and composed solely by him. It has the participation of the Helicon String Quartet. Manoel de Oliveira, the famous Portuguese director, directed the short film "Momento", as a video for the first single and title track off the album."

Of Monsters And Men - mountain sound, 2012

"Mountain Sound" is a single by Icelandic indie folk/indie pop band Of Monsters and Men. The song was released as the second single from the international version of their debut studio album, My Head Is an Animal. It was written by Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson; and produced by Jacquire King."

Pet Shop Boys - left to my own devices seven inch version, 1988

"Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat" – Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928-1967) was a Marxist revolutionary born in Argentina who became a major figure in the Cuban Revolution of Fidel Castro. (His visage has become such a commonplace symbol of the counterculture that it's now a virtual cliché.) Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer, one of the leading figures of the impressionist movement (though he himself apparently disliked having the term "impressionist" applied to his own work). Both Guevara and Debussy may be viewed as revolutionaries in their respective realms. Their juxtaposition and association with a "disco beat" has often been interpreted—rightly or wrongly—as the Pet Shop Boys' own encapsulization of their musical style and ambitions."

Keane - your eyes open, 2004

"Blame Coldplay. Since their success - and subsequent absence - everyone with half a tune and a long-lost love thinks they're sensitive. But three-piece band Keane actually are. And they don't need guitars to prove it. Instead, they rely on singer Tom Chaplin's choirboy vocals and some tender piano melodies."

Saint Etienne - duke duvet, 1993

"The drum pattern of "Duke Duvet" is taken from Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence".

Stars - celebration guns, 2004

“There’s been a lot of tears, tears of emotion. The way that music lives in your body, it can bring you back to a certain time, and that’s quite visceral and intense.”

The Moody Blues - question, 1970

"It was written at a time when we were touring America, and a lot of young people of our generation were living in fear of being called up into a terrible conflict [the Vietnam War], so I think we were speaking for them in a way. When I wrote it, I knew what the bass line was going to be and what it needed from the drums, and fortunately I had Graeme [Edge], who could do that on the high hat. He was well up for doing that beat. And it was great — we didn’t do many takes. There’s no real double tracking on ‘Question.’ It was one of those things where we got back to basics. The Question of Balance album had that philosophy, to get back to basics and a simple way of recording."

Saint Etienne - andrew mccarthy, 1999

"Oh, what a headache this one gave us. Our tribute to the St. Elmo's Fire star never quite worked out - this is the demo which sounds better to us than either the lost vocal version or the Sylvie b-side. The original lyric was a haunting tribute to the originator of the 'eye method'."

Club 8 - breakdown, 1996

"Club 8, who are Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård, began their career in 1995 and have not stopped making their signature brilliant music since. Each of the seven albums they have released is testimony to Karolina and Johan’s mastery of their talent, the band’s evolution and the refinement of their sound. They make for an interesting study in the life of the pop sensation that they have become."

Prefab Sprout - cars and girls, 1988

"Lyrically, "Cars and Girls" is a comment on Bruce Springsteen's use of romantic metaphors in his songs. McAloon felt Springsteen utilised "a poetry that an Englishman can’t understand". The song is often seen as indicating a personal distaste for Springsteen, but McAloon elaborated on the lyrics in a 1992 interview; "The point of the parody is this: not that I think Bruce Springsteen is crap, it's that I think a lot of his audience get into him on a patriotic level that he doesn't intend. They misinterpret him, their enjoyment of him is inaccurate, all very imperialist American. I wanted to write a song about someone who was thick white trash, listening to Springsteen, and saying 'But our lives aren't like that'".

The Cure - homesick, 1989

"It’s not just that they were making great music; they’d been making great music for roughly a decade already. But these were the years during which they coalesced into this whole iconic thing, the Cure—a sound, a look, and a sensibility that a few kids in every other high school could build whole identities around. Or at least whole wardrobes, decoration schemes, and notebook scribbles. One of my first big memories of listening to Disintegration involves wandering around the Colorado State Fair, from the agriculture show to the gang fights by the midway. This is a kind of reach I doubt Robert Smith ever imagined."

Belle And Sebastian - the wrong girl, 2000

"Chamber-pop arrangements recall the ‘60s pop group the Left Banke, and the alternating of two male and two female singers evokes a softer version of the Mekons - into Romantic poetry rather than revolutionary polemics. But it’s frontman Stuart Murdoch’s wispy voice and fragile lyrics that give the album its identity. In capturing the nature of an easily bruised psyche, he seems directly descended both from ‘70s tragic hero Nick Drake and from Morrissey at his most vulnerable and resigned."

Stars - on the hills, 2017

"There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light is the sound of a band that know themselves. Stars speak to the truths we grapple with, and the internal nature of our emotional experiences. It's a gift to hear this realized."

Paul McCartney - getting better live, 2002

"he's playing for the crowd even more than usual, filling out the set list with sentimental favorites"

Tim Buckley - song to the siren live, 1970

"I would write lyrics, hand them to him and he'd come back with a fully fledged piece. There was some kind of uncanny connection between us."

New Order - round and round, 1989

"The song is about New Order's then-souring relationship with Tony Wilson, the owner of Factory Records, which was the band's label at the time. On the documentary "New Order Story", Bernard Sumner discusses that he did not originally intend the song to be about Tony Wilson and the tension between Wilson and the group, but Sumner admits that growing tension between the two men ultimately was channelled into the song when it was being written."

Pet Shop Boys - london, 2002

"What a strange song: a beautiful melody, a gorgeous production, but strange nonetheless. It's the story of a pair of deserters from the Russian army who make their way to London in hopes of forging a new life for themselves—which they do, although they wind up resorting to credit card fraud in order to get by. Singing to a largely acoustic backdrop, Neil adopts the role of one of these emigrés, his voice digitally (and oddly) manipulated throughout the song in such a way to exaggerate his usual vocal idiosyncracies."

Dido - life for rent, 2003

"This song was one of the first songs I wrote there and it still resonates with me. There's a line in there that says I want to live by the sea"

Beach House - silver soul, 2010

“Silver Soul” has the thick, churning gloom familiar from earlier Beach House records, but they acquire more force by being placed alongside tracks that allow for more light. Front to back, the arrangements and sequencing are superb."

Elton John - the man who never died, 1985

"Released as a B-side to "Wrap Her Up." The instrumental tribute to John Lennon was written soon after he died. But with Taupin having separately written "Empty Garden," this song, strongly resembling "Song For Guy," remained unreleased for five years."

The Mary Onettes - dare, 2009

"With huge melodic choruses, soaring strings, and vocals filled with emotional gut-wrench, “Dare” is four minutes of anachronistic bliss."

Electronic - gangster, 1991

"its strength is in conflict ... The inexorable pounding of the beatbox versus the fragile sadness of Sumner's voice and the he's/she's leaving stories; the symmetry of the synthesized or sampled sounds versus the sheer blood and bone physicality of Marr's guitar"

Sambassadeur - small parade cover, 2010

"Small Parade is a cover song present on Sambassadeur's album European. The original song was written by Tobin Sprout (ex-Guided by Voices) and released in the What's Up Matador compilation."

Belle And Sebastian - piazza new york catcher, 2003

"I was almost instantly drawn to Piazza. That’s the thing about him; he was a talisman wherever he went. He was the kind of player people tended to follow, and we thought he was a good guy."

El Perro Del Mar - do not despair, 2008

"Assbring handles the production chores with a gentle and caring touch, mostly forsaking the chamber pop sound she previously utilized for a sparser, more delicate sound, though she can still create miniature symphonies with ease when the song calls for it. With the production, the songs, and above all her amazing vocal persona, Assbring and El Perro del Mar create a world of their own here. It's not a world for everyone - you need a hearty soul to survive - but if you can hack it, From the Valley to the Stars is a fairly magical trip to the center of heartache."

Soft Cell - say hello wave goodbye, 1981

"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" is a song from the album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell that was released as a single in January 1982 and reached number three on the UK Singles Chart."

Saint Etienne - sugarhouse lane, 2006

"There is history aplenty in the Lower Lea Valley, for all the neglect and decay that now characterises the landscape. The street names alone are steeped in it: Pudding Mill Lane, Sugarhouse Lane and Waterworks River. The building that housed the Bryant and May match factory, where the match girls famously went on strike and begat the Labour Movement, still stands in nearby Bow. Around the corner on Wallis Road, a tiny plaque stuck absurdly high on a brick wall announces with little fanfare that plastic was invented here. As Bob Stanley puts it: 'Right here, in Hackney Wick, they invented the future.' Elsewhere, nature has started to take over again, with algae and moss creeping over concrete and steel."

Beirut - august holland, 2015

"No No No is a world away from its predecessor. That album shared some common ground with the rest of the Beirut catalogue in that at its heart was genuine, ramshackle charm; this new record, though, is an exercise in elegance and poise. Given the bleak personal circumstances that frame its gestation, it is remarkably mellow - chirpy, almost, on the likes of ‘Perth’, a song named after the town in which Condon reached his nadir in 2013, and ‘Gibraltar’. The tracks sound low-key, but in fact, they’re cleverly taut compositions - the album runs just short of 30 minutes, and not a second goes to waste."

Mike Oldfield - our father, 2005

"Well, the human mind – consciousness – is a very complicated thing. We don't begin to understand it. So if you're a creative person, "everything that happens to you must come out in what you do."

Electronic - for you, 1996

"For You" is a song by English band Electronic, comprising Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, with guesting co-writer Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, released as the second single from their second album Raise the Pressure. "For You" reached #16 on the UK Singles Chart."

The National - heavenfaced, 2013

"The National has a knack for songs that make me feel like I’m gently resting just underneath the water, away from everything, and the emotions are still there but they’re distant. Heavenfaced is one of those songs."

The Moody Blues - king and queen, 1977

"This is one of the greatest bands ever, better than Pink Floyd but vastly underrated. I loved the Search for the Lost Chord, did not think the psychedelic songs forced in the least. All amazing talents. Why did they not make an Odds and Sods type album of unreleased material (King and Queen, What Am I doing Here, The Dreamer etc) I will never know. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will forever be diminished by not electing the Mooodies until after Ray Thomas died. A top ten of all time band"

Laurent Voulzy - rockollection belle-île-en-mer mille neuf cent soixante-dix-sept - mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-huit, 1977

"Locomotion, A Hard Day's Night, I Get Around, Gloria, Satisfaction"

Fanfarlo - cell song, 2014

"This one song on the record, ‘Cell Song,’ you could sort of listen to it and it could be a love song. And that’s fine. But what it’s actually about is coming from a place of thinking of the billions of cells in your body. In a sense, each cell is an organism. It’s just that that organism has adapted to other organisms in a slightly fascist structure where you will do what you’re told, otherwise you will die”

Vaya Con Dios - at the parallel live, 2017

"I used to sing that song written by Geert Kliphuis long before Vaya Con Dios existed. Geert wrote beautiful songs and I produced one of his albums he recorded under the name Jay Conrad, called ‘A Penniless Gentleman’. I love his songs."

Coldplay - speed of sound, 2005

"the song was written in mid-2004 and was inspired by Martin's daughter, Apple, and English alternative rock singer Kate Bush: "That's a song where we were listening to a lot of Kate Bush last summer, and we wanted a song which had a lot of tom-toms in it. I just had my daughter up also, and was kind of feeling in a sense of awe and wonderment, so the song is kind of a Kate Bush song about miracles." The drumbeat of the song was inspired by Bush's 1985 song "Running Up that Hill". In a separate interview, bassist Guy Berryman said: "We were really trying to recreate the drums on that song for this song, and the chords. Some bands are reluctant to admit that they take things from other artists and bands that they listen to and we're shameless in that respect, we don't mind telling."

Saint Etienne - the clothes show sad refrain, 1999

"'Built On Sand’, originally pressed on CD only and mailed to members of the Saint Etienne fan club for Christmas 1999, ‘Built On Sand’ gathered together 14 previously unreleased nuggets. Highlights include Suburban Autumn Lieutenant, recorded by Etienne Daho as Le Baiser Francais; a pitch for a new theme to BBC TV's The Clothes Show; Tomorrow Never Dies, another pitch, this time for a Bond theme; and the minimal techno-pop Keep Nothing. There are also outtakes from Good Humor and Sound Of Water, unavailable anywhere else."

Moby - love theme, 1997

"in the afternoon, I clean, which, weirdly, I love. When I was growing up, my mum cleaned people’s houses to make extra money and I would help. If the music doesn’t work out, I can always go back to that."

Stars - walls, 2012

"the closing track “Walls” is a gorgeous duet between Campbell and Millan that is, again, a bit of a return to form, with drum machines overlaid with throbbing bass and various percussive sounds and ambiance. Their voices weave in and out of each other’s melody, creating a type of harmony that is neither traditional nor trivial. It divulges the intense heartfelt-ness of this band, that is the cornerstone of exactly what Stars as a group is– sometimes excessive, but never without sincerity, profundity and the type of passionate enthusiasm that few bands possess."

Grant McLennan - horsebreaker star, 1994

"I wanted it to be the kind of record that could be played by anyone, but not too obvious. You know, the London Symphony Orchestra doesn't have to do the ballads, Johnny Cash doesn't have to do the country songs. I don't like to be that predictable. I like surprises"

Keane - bedshaped, 2004

"It's a sad and angry song, but also full of hope. I think I'm right in saying that in hospital when someone is ill and has to spend a lot of time in bed they can become 'bedshaped'."

The Cranberries - dying in the sun, 1999

“I was looking back at the negative me, that kind of sad period I went through and I was kinda say I never want to go back to that, now I’m moving forward and I’m becoming a happy person like I used to be always.“

The Housemartins - there is always something there to remind me, 1988

"I’m constantly amazed and humbled that people still listen to it after 32 years. I write kids’ books now and work in schools engaging primary school children in reading and writing. Sometimes I joke with them, “Hey, I used to be a pop star! Who believes me?” They never do"

New Order - vicious streak, 2001

"Vicious Streak is the fourth track off of New Order's Get Ready. In his book, Substance, Peter Hook says that the song has one of his favorite basslines of all of his work."

Stars - lights changing colour, 2012

"A nice beat, fun synths, a very catchy melody, and a dose of cheese. Stars have made some pretty cheesy music (“Don’t Be Afraid to Sing” comes to mind) but they usually make it work. Not so on this album’s unfortunate “Do You Want To Die Together?” which lays its god-awful call and response (“I may look alive but inside I’m dead / Well let’s make it true”) over a tried-and-true guitar figure. Good thing it’s wedged between two of the album’s best songs, the pretty Amy-sung numbers “Through the Mines” and “Lights Changing Colour”.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults - bulletproof girl, 2012

"We have a soft spot for Austin, Texas outfit Letting Up Despite Great Faults, thanks in large part to their fusion of dreampop with a more metronomic, New Order referencing sound."

Echo And The Bunnymen - rust, 1999

"Rust" is a single by Echo & the Bunnymen which was released in March 1999. It was the first single to be released from their 1999 album, What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?. It reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart and currently remains their last UK Top 40 hit."

Pet Shop Boys - single, 1996

"Single" is meant to be funny. One can hardly hope for a better or more succinct explication of this song than the one that Neil has himself provided: "The narrator is a very glib Euro businessman, a glib Eurocrat who flies business class and likes all his privileges. He tries to pick up chicks at meet 'n' greets. He's pretending to be a sophisticated ladies man: 'Single! Bilingual!'. But he's not really communicating either and he knows it. In actual fact he's a hopeless, tragic wreck."

Damien Jurado - ohio live, 2022

"Ohio" is an elaborate and painfully sad tale of a girl deciding to return home years after being kidnapped by her father."

Moby - where you end, 2005

"Lift Me Up rattled and shook like a giant truck with no brakes, while Where You End pulsated explosively."

Saint Etienne - mervyn's theme, 2006

"A melancholy loveletter to what we now know as the capital’s Olympic zone"

REM - why not smile oxford american version, 1998

"Why Not Smile is a great song for the album Up. My only problem is I feel the Oxford American Version would have fit much better on the album then the one the band went with. I feel this because the oxford version flows with I’m Not Over You; two gems from the album. The oxford version also flows with the acoustic guitar through out the album."

Mike Oldfield - wonderful land cover, 1980

"English musician Mike Oldfield covered "Wonderful Land" on his 1980 Virgin Records album, QE2. Oldfield's version was also released as a single and as the B-side for his "Sheba" single; in some countries, "Wonderful Land" was the A-side. The Shadows later covered one of Oldfield's songs, "Moonlight Shadow"."

Neil Young - four strong winds cover, 1978

"The song has a clear Canadian context and subtext, including an explicit mention of the province Alberta as well as references to long, cold winters. In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose it as the greatest Canadian song of all time on the program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. It is considered the unofficial anthem of Alberta."

Hooverphonic - the world is mine, 2002

"Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane is the fourth album by the Belgian band Hooverphonic. It is a concept album, telling the story of fictional singer Jackie Cane. The singles released from this album are "The World Is Mine", "Sometimes" and "One". The story revolves around the fictitious character Jackie Cane who leaves her identical twin sister in order to become a professional singer. Driven to the brink of insanity by the pressures of fame, Jackie quits show business and returns home to attempt reconciliation with her sister. But, still bitter from years of being put last, her sister kills both of them with a poisoned Last Supper."

Saint Etienne - burnt out car xenomania mix, 2009

"Xenomania is an English songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent. Formed by Higgins with his Creative Director Miranda Cooper and Business Director Sarah Stennett of First Access Entertainment, Xenomania has written and produced for artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Pet Shop Boys, The Saturdays and Sugababes. In particular, all but one of Girls Aloud's studio albums have been entirely written and produced by Xenomania. Sugababes' "Round Round" and Girls Aloud's "Sound of the Underground" have been credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s. Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" and Girls Aloud's "The Promise" were named Best Single at the ARIA Music Awards of 2008 and the 2009 BRIT Awards, respectively."

Soft Cell - where the heart is, 1983

"While my childhood was broken, it wasn’t totally miserable. I had fantastic grandparents, who I adored. I had a nervous breakdown at 17 when my parents divorced, and was sectioned for two months. But I try and put a positive spin on everything."

Moby - eighteen, 2002

"The desire to make compassionate records that meet a need in someone else's life."

Belle And Sebastian - she's losing it, 1996

"Exploring the mindsets of damaged young women is something Murdoch has been doing with lyrical aplomb since "Expectations" and "She's Losing It" on Tigermilk. It's no surprise, therefore, to learn that some of the songs on The Life Pursuit were first conceived as God Help the Girl tracks. Ireton's version of "Act of the Apostle" is slickly proficient, though it's hard to see how the brisker original has been bettered."

Tom Verlaine - words from the front, 1982

"I think it was financial! In the seventies, when guitars were still cheap, nobody wanted a Jazzmaster because they weren't loud and didn't stay in tune. In '73/'74 you could buy a Jazzmaster for $150 easily. So that's why I started playing it, because we didn't have a lot of money and they were cheap. And then I really got used to it, plus the vibrato arm on it is very nice. I use really heavy strings on it—like a 14 to a 58 or something similar—and that's another part of the sound, I think."

Beirut - the rip tide live oakland, 2019

"Why do you love Beirut? The question was being posed to me at a house party, one where the host’s superior collection of craft beer had turned me into a blushing and slightly over exuberant conversationalist with all the new cute strangers I met. This new cute stranger demonstrated enough basic hipster fashion trends (Warby Parkers and Japanese Denim) that I knew he’d heard of the indie band Beirut, but for whatever reason, had not come to worship them like I did. By answering his question “Why do you love Beirut?” I would have to craft my argument in an eloquent and fun fact-based manner, maybe even provide this information with a few coy half smiles, to reveal that I too had more secrets to reveal."

Slowdive - kisses, 2023

"It is comically easy to make a passable shoegaze song with the right pedals and proper settings, but writing a great shoegaze song remains fiendishly difficult. Slowdive remain masters at this evanescent art. “Kisses,” the lead single to their upcoming album Everything Is Alive, and their first new music since 2017’s self-titled, is more delicate than anything on that album, as well as more openly romantic."