2/23/16

"We spent some time
Together crying
Spent some time just trying
To let each other go

I held your hand so
Very tightly
And told you what I
Would be dreaming of

There's nothing like you and I
Nothing like you and I
There's nothing like you and I
So why do I even try?
There's nothing like you and I"
~Nothing Like You and I
The Perishers, Let There Be Morning

Some nights you have to give up on the promise of sleep. Too much in your head, or too much caffeine, or too many loud neighbors. The best remedy, I have learned, is to go with the awakeness -- don't fight it, you will only end up frustrated with yourself. It winds up being the perfect time to pull out the headphones and find some new music, or revisit old favorites lurking around, like The Perishers.

Oh, how I love this little song. Patient and delicate, space in the slow rhythms and lightness in the vocal melody. Warmth in the keys. Perfect for a mix CD, the kind with random one-off songs from random one-off artists. I love how it starts very simply, and builds to a harmony-filled key change, so together and polished in that Swede-pop way. I've been paying extra attention to band origins since reading the absolutely excellent "The Song Machine" by John Seabrook, and upon returning to this find from The Perishers, I realized their perfectly timed rhymes and uplifting chord choices are a pure product from their scene, the late 90s pop rock eruption, directly from its epicenter.

At the very least, it's a happier sound than the muffled grunge radio and hipster horns blaring from the apartment beneath me at this hour. At the very best, it's a daydream, when I should be sleeping, a reminder of the lightness that lies ahead once the sun comes back up and the world wakes up.