I was chatting Old Friend Of ANBAD, Louis Barabbas, yesterday about the touchy issue of new songs reminding listeners of older, famous ones.
I reasoned that if a new song reminds me in some tangible, or intangible way, of a classic hit from the past, then it’s a win-win for all involved: the new song is subconsciously hitched to the classic, and gets better by association.
Louis, playing devils advocate (for a change), argued that an artist who has slaved away over a song – only to be told when finally revealing it to the word that it sounds a bit like something that already exists – might not be as amenable to seeing those positives.
It makes sense that they would be miffed – but I still believe that pop music is a constant swirl of subconscious self-reference, and is pasrt of the charm. And hey, if you get sued over the songwriting credit by the Rolling Stones, it’ll probably increase your album sales by a factor of ten. Hey, it didn’t hurt The Verve, did it?
So, when I mention that that Plainview‘s Golden Sound reminds me a bit of Pavement, I hope they take the compliment as intended.
Of course, Plainview don’t sound totally like Pavement – their music is not nearly as scratchy and torn – but the ethos remains similar. The fact that they have a song called Golden Sound and Pavement scored with Gold Soundz doesn’t hurt, either.
Either way, I love Golden Sound – the easiness of the song, the laconic strum of the guitar, the brevity of it all, the lazy finesse. It’s a song that you won’t tire of; this is testimony to the skilled songwriting. Now, to listen to Slanted and Enchanted again.