🦋 Perspex Island song by song: So You Think You're in Love
Well the nub of what I'm wanting to know about Hitchcock, is how come I lost interest in his music for a long time? This song is important in that investigation, though I had never heard it until I bought this record. Here's why -- when I was talking with Jeremy the other day, he said this was the song that had turned him off from Robyn Hitchcock; and when he was saying that I was thinking about "If You Were a Priest" from Element of Light, and "Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)" from Globe of Frogs, and that they had played the same role for me -- I don't know how to identify that role beyond calling the songs "pop" and "not cryptic". When Oceanside closes it recapitulates its opening, the growing chorus of voices cut off with a strong beat, which this time around just reverberates and fades away* -- when it reaches silence you get the first beat of "So You Think You're In Love". A striking characteristic of this record is the choreography of transitions from one song to the next -- I can only describe it as "elegant". So -- pop, yes. Not cryptic, at least not in the in-your-face way that his first records are -- although listening if you listen to the lyrics in the verses you will find plenty to be puzzled about. It's a silent majority, the crime of the century. Are you sure that it's wise, no you probably ain't. The song is short and sweet, from my current location I can find nothing in it to dislike, and much to appreciate. It's hard for me to see how songs like it would have been the cause of my losing interest in Hitchcock. Here is a video of Robyn and the Egyptians playing "So You Think You're in Love" on CNBC's "The Real Story".
*(And just now when I was listening to it I caught a last brief vocal "Oh-mmm" over the fading beat.)
posted evening of Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
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