Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace". Terry and Biz go down to the water. I'm still up on the deck and all I can see is Terry's blue bathing-suit passing through the trees. I am resting a white styrofoam cup on the railing.

When they step out of the woods and onto the planks they are caught in the full brunt of the dock's lights. They squint like it's noon. Terry tosses her hair and laughs and from up on the deck it looks like such a noony gesture. They start talking and they must be talking about how suddenly it feels like daytime, like the sun is out, like it is the hottest height of the day. But around them the lake lays flat and black, and the breeze is cold. Biz pulls off his shirt. He squeezes Terry's butt. She doesn't even jump; she just rolls her eyes at him. She slips into the water without saying a word. Her face is half in shadow and half in bright light.

Biz picks up a tiny stone from beside the dock. He flicks it at her. It lands in the water with a plip. I see half of her face smile.

For a while I go away from the railing and make my way through the party. I talk with Gil, Paul, Julie and a couple of dancers who come from Mexico. I look at the Tom Thomson print that Halley's mom has put up above the couch. I get a refill of whisky. When I go back out onto the deck, Terry is still in the water and Biz is still on the dock but they are both yelling and laughing. Terry keeps spraying water up at him, skimming the surface with the soft pad of her hand. Biz is getting bigger and bigger rocks, sending them plunging into the lake. "Fish hail!" I yell at them. They don't see to hear. They are laughing so hard. They are shaking they're laughing so hard. I imagine Terry swimming to the bottom of the lake and coming back as a whale.

[more, courtesy of True Panther Sounds / album out in August / 10" available in the UK]

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Elsewhere:

Amazing analysis of the 90s TV show Boy Meets World.

Other mass-distributed free official-label-promo-songs I have been enjoying:

• Free Energy - "Free Energy"
• The Clientele - "I Wonder Who We Are"
• Datarock - "True Stories" (using 100% recycled Talking Head lyrics)
• Wheat - "HOTT"

Finally, a contest! In 10 days I am headed to the small town of Sackville, New Brunswick for what I have heard is one of North America's finest music & art festivals. Forget Pitchfork, forget SXSW, forget (for now) Pop Montreal - from July 31 to August 2, it's Sappyfest. Remarkable musicians playing in small spaces, to small crowds, after which we can all visit a gallery or grab ice-cream together. The line-up sings (Eric's Trip, Destroyer, Mount Eerie, Clues, Calvin Johnson, Julie Doiron, Eric Chenaux, Feuermusik, Ladyhawk, the Luyas, Ohbijou, Timber Timbre, Shapes & Sizes, Snailhouse), but it's also (i think - i've never been!) a place for discovery. For a small town to teach you a thing or two about treasures.

Anyway, it's worth the drive. And we have two Sappyfest passes to give away. All you need to do is email me your favourite picture of a tree. The one I like best wins. Entries due by Wednesday, 11:59 PM EST. Good luck! [Update: Chad is our winner! If for some reason he cannot make it, I will be in touch with a runner-up. Thank you so much for the lovely trees, all of them.]