Laura Marling - "Alpha Shallows". "I should have left when M did. I don't know why I didn't. That's not true. I stayed because it was easier. I knew the cupboards, the doorways. I could write there. The day they announced the change, I was finishing the third chapter. It had been the easiest chapter. On the news they said they were changing everything, changing the way things worked, changing it so we were not paid on sunny days. We would only be paid if it rained. It didn't seem so bad. It seemed different. We all wanted difference. So on clear days we'd be poor; on rainy days, we'd be rich. I didn't think it'd matter. I worked in my room. I squinted at the sun. I watched the streets fill with people, praying for storms. I wrote you letters. I wrote, I hope we all drown." [buy]

Clogs - "Last Song". "Last Song" does not sound like a last song. "Last Song" is too slow. (The lastest songs come fast.) Rather, this is a song that sounds like it's trying to postpone an ending. The National's Matt Berninger decelerates with every syllable he sings. Momentum dissipates with every phrase, every pause. Perhaps he can bring the song to a dead stop. Perhaps he can keep it from quite ending. [buy]

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Elsewhere: A dawny, simple video for one of my favourite songs of last year, Cains & Abels' "My Life Is Easy".

[photo source]