Between Zero 7 and The Cure lies...
May 20, 2014 6:53 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a gloomy pop record that I lost years ago. I only have vague recollections of it. The best description I can give is that it's somewhere between Zero 7 and The Cure.
I lost a hard drive full of music back in 2009. There was an album of
gloomy pop music on there that I've been desperately trying to
remember since, but all I can remember are vague impressions.
I must have had it since 2006, maybe earlier.
These are the features that I remember:
- The lyrics were dark/depressing
- The music was minor key synth-pop (maybe not that poppy, but that's
the best I can describe it), emphasis seemed to be on the vocals.
- There was a male singer and a female singer. I don't remember
either of them singing on the same track, the tracks seemed to
alternate back and forth between the two of them.
- I vaguely remember a song that involved the lyrics "death took a
holiday" or something like that, searches for those lyrics turned up
nothing relevant and I'm pretty sure I'm misremembering the line.
- In my head the music has gotten confabulated with Zero 7
(specifically tracks from the album "The Garden" that were sung by
Sia). It's somewhere between that and The Cure.
Help, this has been bothering me for years...
I lost a hard drive full of music back in 2009. There was an album of
gloomy pop music on there that I've been desperately trying to
remember since, but all I can remember are vague impressions.
I must have had it since 2006, maybe earlier.
These are the features that I remember:
- The lyrics were dark/depressing
- The music was minor key synth-pop (maybe not that poppy, but that's
the best I can describe it), emphasis seemed to be on the vocals.
- There was a male singer and a female singer. I don't remember
either of them singing on the same track, the tracks seemed to
alternate back and forth between the two of them.
- I vaguely remember a song that involved the lyrics "death took a
holiday" or something like that, searches for those lyrics turned up
nothing relevant and I'm pretty sure I'm misremembering the line.
- In my head the music has gotten confabulated with Zero 7
(specifically tracks from the album "The Garden" that were sung by
Sia). It's somewhere between that and The Cure.
Help, this has been bothering me for years...
This is probably not it, but for some reason I thought of Neverending White Lights. If it isn't, you might like it anyway.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:12 PM on May 20, 2014
posted by Athanassiel at 7:12 PM on May 20, 2014
Best answer:
wild stab -- and probably not it -- but could it have been Stephin Merritt's (of The Magnetic Fields) side-project Future Bible Heroes and their debut album "Memories of Love"?
Death Opened a Boutique
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:30 PM on May 20, 2014
I vaguely remember a song that involved the lyrics "death took aIt's not a perfect fit for your other criteria (but it's not completely off, either..) and this is a bit of a
holiday" or something like that..
wild stab -- and probably not it -- but could it have been Stephin Merritt's (of The Magnetic Fields) side-project Future Bible Heroes and their debut album "Memories of Love"?
Death Opened a Boutique
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:30 PM on May 20, 2014
Response by poster: YES! Future Bible Heroes
Death Opened a Boutique is the song I was remembering... man I completely mangled that.
Thanks for the other suggestions. Will check out Faith and Muse and Neverending White Lights (Massive Attack and Air I'm familiar with and like very much).
posted by NormieP at 9:43 PM on May 20, 2014
Death Opened a Boutique is the song I was remembering... man I completely mangled that.
Thanks for the other suggestions. Will check out Faith and Muse and Neverending White Lights (Massive Attack and Air I'm familiar with and like very much).
posted by NormieP at 9:43 PM on May 20, 2014
If you're not familiar with Stephin Merritt's other work with The Magnetic Fields, you should certainly check it out.
Tastes will vary, but I would recommend, based on what you've written here, The Charm of the Highway Strip (my personal favorite) and The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees
69 Love Songs is also brilliant, and probably their most well-known, but is less uniform in tone.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:20 PM on May 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Tastes will vary, but I would recommend, based on what you've written here, The Charm of the Highway Strip (my personal favorite) and The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees
69 Love Songs is also brilliant, and probably their most well-known, but is less uniform in tone.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:20 PM on May 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I was not familiar with The Magentic Fields or Stephn Merritt before (well, at least not until you sent me down the Spotify rabbit hole about an hour ago). I'm on 69 Love Songs now, will definitely check out the others you suggested.
Thanks again!
posted by NormieP at 10:48 PM on May 20, 2014
Thanks again!
posted by NormieP at 10:48 PM on May 20, 2014
Awesome, glad it turned up! FWIW, the Neverending White Lights song that hooked me is The Warning (off the second album), which I heard while watching the Canadian TV show Lost Girl as the result of an AskMe recommendation... MeFi comes full circle again!
posted by Athanassiel at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2014
posted by Athanassiel at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2014
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posted by lovableiago at 7:09 PM on May 20, 2014