Since there’s no sense in pimping it on Barbelith, because so many people there are already aware of this band, I shall talk about my intense love of the song “Source Tags and Codes” by And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead here.

The song sounds as if it exists in a world permanently frozen in suburban US alt-rock 1993 – but is aware of that fact, and secretly does not mind being stuck there at all. It’s sorta like Sonic Youth if they had only ever released Goo and Dirty, and Thurston was the only member of the band who sang. It’s not exactly a nostalgic song, it’s more romantic than anything else – the epic sweep of the guitar lines, stings, and clunky-sounding piano makes me think of it being like the soundtrack to the final scene of a period piece set in the early 90s, like an old film from the 40s, but the film is about Superchunk or something. In some ways, it reminds me of “Shoot The Singer” by Pavement, which I’ve always described as being a romantic song about romantic notions, a beautiful picture of a past that never really happened. Ha, and of course, “Shoot The Singer” on the Watery, Domestic EP was released in 1993.

Ah, this just isn’t working out – I’m struggling with trying to describe this song, and one of the things I love most about it is this ineffable quality – I’ll never articulate this properly. I highly recommend it, obviously.