Another One

Song: Another One Goes By
Artist: Mazarin
Date: 5/29/06
Source: Album, here

While I still think the standout track from this album is Louise*, after hearing the Walkmen cover this song on their latest album, this is a close second (btw I prefer the original, in keeping with my "like the first version you hear" trend). Its a very different song than Louise, which gets most of its charm from its failure to conform to pop expectations. "Another One Goes By" great pop with an artful arrangement that adds interesting texture and tones without being too busy or smothering. The sound is familar and yet still hard to place. It is wistful, relaxed and expansive, like a lazy sunny Sunday, or "Don't Dream its Over" by Crowded House filtered through something 80s and english with some blue-eyed soul and soft psychedilia sprinkled on top.

*During last november, when I was trying to play catch up with this list, I took a crack at explaining the awesomeness of Louise. I hate to see that effort go to waste, so if you'll indulge me:

The easiest description I can come up with for this is a doubletime version of Mazzy Star's "Fade into You". The vocals glide. The lyrics are appropriately poetic and vague. The guitars are acoustic play similar chords to the Mazzy start song. They're accompanied by "the ocean" (at least that's what the booklet credits Brian McTear with) duplicating the earlier's gentle and dreamy sense of atmosphere.

What makes the song standout is the subtleties of the guitar arrangement. Against the overall relaxed mood, the guitar is contantly strummed, creating a sense of forward momentum. More interestingly, the pattern of the chords changes, but not in a verse/chorus way. Shortly after the intro, the song settles into a four chord/four measure pattern. Then it extends it to a ten measure pattern, before returning to the four measure structure for a short period of time ... only to wander again. It's as if the the words were dictating the structure of the music rather than the other way around. It lends the song an impromptu, meandering feeling, like you are listening to a conversation or monologue set to music, and personalizes everything in a way that more traditionally structured music fails to.

Thanks fopr indulging me.