Looking At The Sweat Stains

Snuggle “Marigold”

“Marigold” keeps zigging when you expect it to zag. Once you think it’s going to be a drowsy faux lo-fi bedroom indie thing, the strings kick in, and then it pivots again to more of a Massive Attack feel. The lyrics sketch out a sexy scene with vivid language, then moves towards cliche, and then doubles back to critique that turn: “I’ve heard it all before, baby, it’s a nuisance / the poems, the fake romance.” It’s basically a song about getting turned on then getting the “ick,” and the entire arrangement seems to exist somewhere in that continuum between arousal and irritation. Listen to that main guitar part – it could easily be played in a softer, more sensual way, but there’s something prickly and agitated about the particular tone.

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Winter “Existentialism”

“Existentialism” is a warm bath of familiar sounds for long-term indie rock listeners – you’ve heard that vaguely funky beat, you know this sort of dreamy rhythm guitar pattern, the vocal melody will spark some deja vu. The element that really lifts this up is the particular tone of the extremely simple lead guitar part, and how it’s mixed so it sounds like it’s a little outside the boundaries of the song. I like the subtle shift in perspective and the way it seems to dramatize the earlier lyric “only gonna send you out of your head.”

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