Clock Opera: "Belongings"

Straight off the back of a disco-edged Drums remix, Guy Connelly and Clock Opera reveal a little more of their signature chop-pop, though this time minus the surf touches of a quartet of beach ball enthusiasts. For anyone who didn’t catch “Me and the Moon,” Clock Opera specialize in finding a melody, hacking it to pieces, and then dressing the remains in loops, producing pop music that shimmers like you’re watching it across a hot, evaporating road. You couldn’t tell any of that if you dive straight into “Belongings,” though: while the “Me and the Moon” mix provided three minutes of shiny ’80s cheese, this standalone A-side is muchas introspective, sprinkled with piano shards to reminds you who the artist is. Also, Guy Connelly sings about unsociable recluses. If you brought beach balls, better deflate them now.

On the surface, “Belongings” appears to be a particularly beautiful song about a compulsive hoarder—someone who claims “I’ll put all my papers and records in piles / I’ll store all my secrets in boxes and files / Too many mirrors combining our lives until we can’t tell them apart.” The piano offcuts he’s surrounded in teeter like his piles of junk, threatening to crash down and bury the hermit as soon as he dares breathe out again. Luckily, of course, they do: after three minutes there’s an almighty guitar drop, and Connelly seemingly says “only joking” to the Drums fans who followed him this far. A rigid electric bass begins snapping while the vocals change to “Oh” over and over, like someone fumbling around a cocktail party and bumping into everyone important. “I’ll show you a side that no one else knows,” Connelly promised us before the track took off and went nuclear. You did that, Guy, and it was honestly very touching. Now kick down those box-files and let’s party.