With three exams coming up this week (and one I am particularly stressed for) I have very little energy and time to write my song of the week. For this reason I am going to just give a list of a few songs I have been enjoying recently and a couple thoughts for each one.

Madness - I have always had a love for the ska sounds of Madness, probably inherited from my dad and the long road trips my family took to Scotland, where the “Complete Madness” album was often played. I have a sort of nostalgia for these songs for this reason, but in their own right they are just so fun and playful.

• Night Boat to Cairo: Whether I have a soft spot for this song because it features on Just Dance 2 I will not comment on. This aside, I will always appreciate the willing to commit to a theming for their songs, adding in great sound effects and linking lyrics.
• House of Fun: This song very much lives up to its name, it feels very bouncy and silly. I can’t help but bob along to it when I listen.
• In the City: Ok did I mainly choose this song because of the “Oooba dooba dooba dooba”? Yes. Do I have anything else to say? No.

Bon Iver - I picked up a liking for Bon Iver way back when I was dancing with Phoenix Dance theatre and we were doing some warm ups to “I Need A Forest Fire” by James Blake and Bon Iver. I think it’s such an interesting piece of music and really beautiful, I really enjoyed dancing to it at the time (and would love to now). Admittedly I do generally listen to Bon Iver when miserable because it feels very light and non-committal - but I’m sure there are other ways of listening to it (that I haven’t discovered).

• Flume: I listened to this song a lot during the second lockdown, most of what I remember from this song is long walks in winter snow feeling quite miserable. So I don’t exactly feel great recommending this to others, but it holds a lot of meaning to me and I think that’s important. I think it does sort of hug you, or maybe envelope you, not in a warm embrace but a comforting one.
• 8 (circle): I think I will always remember this album being associated to James Acaster, he has a whole thing about how 2016 was the best year for music and to be fair this album is great. I think this track has a much more optimistic feel to it. Fun fact: this is my third most streamed song of all time both in terms of listen time and individual plays.
• RABi: The third track in the spectrum of optimism and the one that feels the most optimistic. This song is much more loose and free feeling.

The song of the week comes from Bon Iver, but actually the remix of “I think about it all the time” from the brat remix album (which I am sure fellow webring pal Charlie will appreciate). I think the coming together of two different genres here works so so perfectly and the song itself doesn’t only sound great, but also explores meaningful topics.

Song of the Week:

See my friend Sof’s song of the week here!