Count Your Gifts

The Breeders “Fate To Fatal”

This “classic rock” sounds works well for Kim Deal. Her voice and persona slips so well into the sort of raw, groovy rock and roll that barely holds together as its performers attempt to get across some vague yet highly potent desire. Deal sounds sweet, wounded, wonderful, and bewildered as she shouts it out over this music, which sways and staggers with an awkward, drunken version of grace. It sounds like the moment before something or other — it could be some kind of victory for her, or maybe she just passes out.

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Bombadil “Sad Birthday”

There is a lovely crispness to the treble in this song. It rings out, giving the impression of an object with a tight, solid form, but somehow lacking in weight and density. It’s a funny thing to realize that these men are actually singing about someone having a sad birthday. It certainly suits the emotional, empathetic tone of the melody, but it nevertheless seems like a trivial subject for a composition that implies something much more epic.

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