Old favorites

I got "The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life" by Sunset Rubdown on some random playlist I downloaded, and I loved it right away. I remember that I didn't really have time to listen to them all in one sitting, so I previewed the first 15 or so seconds of each track. YES, I realize it's an awful way of judging. But point of story is that from the beginning of the song, I was hooked.

I really love this song. It has so much energy and so many different ways of using sound in combinations that I hadn't heard before. Front man Spencer Krug's voice is so unique—almost yodel-esque, taut, straining, but somehow still joyful and bright. I listened to it over and over, put it on a plethora of playlists on my iPod, downloaded the album it came from, Random Spirit Lover (2007). I found another really great song, "The Mending of the Gown," on it. It has the same infectious glee, sense of determination, and creativity that drew me to "The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life."

The thing is, I've never been a lyrics person. I almost never hear lyrics the first time I hear a song, I have to listen at least three or four times again to really pick out words. But the lyrics in these songs are so out there and creative that you really need to keep a focused ear on 'em—or look them up online when it gets too slurry (which is what I did).

"She said, 'My sails are flapping in the wind.'

I said, 'Can I use that in a song?'

She said, 'I mean, the end begins.'

I said, 'I know. Can I use that, too?'"

=from "The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life"

"It was the tender mending of this slender gown

That brought me bending to the ground.

But this ship was built to go down—

See the paddle go up and the paddle go down."

-from "The Mending of the Gown"

"The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life" by Sunset Rubdown from Random Spirit Lover (2007)

"The Mending of the Gown" by Sunset Rubdown from Random Spirit Lover (2007)

-A