Land Of Talk - Speak To Me Bones

Spending the beforenoon towed to a small pier on the Nile I make myself comfortable in the shadow, opposite to ancient tombs and old fashioned sailing boats. Palms and desert as background and cause for an "out-of-place" and "time-stands-still" mood.
Hope Sandoval's voice tires to fade into me and Jeanette Winterson tells a story about a couple lost at sea. The sun burns there and here but as they are dying from thirst I'm sipping iced tea.
I put Mazzy Star on full volume but still they stand no chance against the memory of another song stuck in my head. The intense pleading of Land Of Talk's opening track to their "Applause Cheer Boo Hiss" EP. Even though I can't remember the words it's its intensity and desperation, as opposed to and unlike the vocals on the other tracks, that makes the vocal lines so memorable. Building up its vigor the song feeds you with words here and there outside a greater context and finally errupts into the ultimate question "what about now?" which will follow you for the rest of the day demanding an answer whenever inappropriate.
Seeing them live just recently taught me they're Canadian which actually surprised me. Compared to its enormous size the musical or artistic output in general is rather small and most often watered-down versions of the art and music of their south-of-the-border neighbours. But once in a while something canadian comes up that is so not american or british or swedish that compensates for all the waiting.

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Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks

half asleep i hum a songline. desperately trying to finish the verse to reach the chorus. when i remember the chorus i will remember what song the line is from. after the third try i wake up. nope, no chorus reached. just a puzzled feeling. another song stuck in my head and i cannot remember what song it is.
a few hours later i will run into the song again. the real song. "GHOST UNDER ROCKS". the opener of the RA RA RIOT album. and it has everything an earworm needs to survive. catchyness and simplicity. and lucky me, the sillyness is missing.
an easy to remember bass-line meets and easy to repeat vocal-line. some recurring words for an easy sing-a-long. the perfect framework for a perfect pop song. perfection brought by subtle strings and background vocals. that's what we're talking when talking about earworms: perfect pop songs. nothing to be ashamed of. nothing i'd be ashamed of.
usually i need more than just one song to buy an album. and honestly, the rest of the RA RA RIOT album is good. but not great. not as great as "GHOST UNDER ROCKS". but still i bought it. just because of this one song. to listen to it over and over again. and when my thumb gets sore from pushing the repeat button i have a good album to follow. and while the last song runs i think about the next earworm to be treatened with the song itself on repeat. or maybe i just listen to this album again.

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Earworm, a calque of the German Ohrwurm, is a term for a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes "stuck" in a person's "head" or repeats against one's will within one's mind.

so says wiki. and much more.