Friday, November 6, 2009

The Softies - It's Love

The Softies – It's Love
K, 1995
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2006
Price: $6

This is one of my ultimate nap jams. It also functions as one of my top “I'm so miserable I can't even get out of bed other than to flip the record” albums (See: Elliott Smith – Elliott Smith). After buying this, I realized it's kind of perfectly tailored to things I like. Ultra sweet (yet warm) female vocals singing about heartbreak and love constructing sad melodies over jangly guitar, lacing the songs with harmonies and making music that sounds like winter. “I can't love you the way he does/ I can only love you more.” So perfect. Listening to it now, and going over the tracklist on the back I'm realizing it's one of my favorites that I've only recently ignored. I don't know why! When I was doing my indie-pop show on KJHK I played them almost every week, especially during fall and winter. The first three songs are almost too much, culminating in “Charms Around Your Wrist,” whose vocal line in the chorus makes me choke up a little every time for some reason. And there's a Talulah Gosh cover (“I can't Get No Satisfaction, Thank God”)!!! Melberg was in Tiger Trap, and I always mixed up Tiger Trap with Taulah Gosh and there's this! K Records girly pop is easily one of my top 5 favorite genres. I cannot get enough, and I think I will end up listening to this record a bunch this winter, even though I'm not depressed or sad or anything like that. It's just a record best experienced under a pile of blankets. It's simple, unadorned and lovely. Just two girls and guitars embodying everything sweet I love about Twee. And has cover art by the ever-excellent Adrian Tomine! And I really can't think of a more appropriate band name.

It's Love!


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