The Inbreds- Any Sense Of Time

I neither know nor care much about the Inbreds; I think they’re Canadian, but this is all I’ve ever heard from them. And it’s very good—a solid, stomping backbeat, nicely distorted guitar and a murmur-and-yell chorus that is one of my favorites. That the song is so cryptic works for me on these days; in the middle eight when they slow down and sing “you just laugh and you call him a man” it fits perfectly, even though you have no idea what they’re talking about. The song is sad, hints at dark truths and is vaguely contemptuous. Perfect.

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Tindersticks- No Man In The World

There are moments on Tindersticks’ Can Our Love… album that pick up the pace, crib some tricks from soul and R’n’B, and see some tentative sunshine poking through the dourness. Not “No Man In The World.” The music is oh-so gentle as Stuart Staples mutters a soliloquy on a doomed relationship, one too fiery, “Never understood what we had / Never knew how to deal with it,” and then he suddenly starts the chorus in the middle, his rich sob choking out “Wanted you” before starting again at the beginning: “Make you feel like no man in the world wanted you / Make me feel like no woman in the world wanted me.” Dickon Hinchliffe handles the asides after a while so Staples can concentrate his inhuman voice on the raw heart of the matter. Think Darren Hayes’ “Unlovable,” but worse.

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Stars- Heart

After I’ve listened to music for a while, I’ve got my appetite for a great chorus back. And “Heart” has an incredible one. But I’m not forgetting what I’ve been listening to all day; the resignation in Amy Millan’s voice as she sings “All right, I can say what you want me to… I’m still in love with you,” the catch that almost halts Torquil Campbell on “You tilt your head and turn it to the setting sun,” the muted trumpet, the way “He held the flame I wasn’t born to carry / I’ll leave the dying young stuff up to you” is neither bitter nor mocking, and most of all, the utterly crushed way Campbell, near the end, starts singing “I want more / Give me more” under the chorus. Resignation and the refusal to settle in the same breath. Stars made one of the most uplifting songs I’ve heard elsewhere on this album (“Look Up”), and here on the title track they make the most comforting sad one I’m likely to hear. After this, it’s the perfect time for a nap.

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