Sleeping in the Aviary: "Someone Loves You"

Bit of an exclusive for you here at CMG: the latest Sleeping in the Aviary song about how being CS-gassed in the face with love. The Minneapolis quintet have been charting romantic devastation for three LPs now, with the upcoming You and Me, Ghost set to be another forty minutes of sing-along self-loathing. Sticking to vocalist Elliott Kozel’s pledge to change genres with every release, this one sees the band put their stylized loneliness to ’50s jump blues and girl pop. Just what you need if you live by their lyrics, and have now reached that point of terminal reclusiveness where only doo-wop can save you from bedsores.

A successful mix of their new parent genres with a haymaker of unrequited love, “Someone Loves You” throws Kozel’s frustrations into a five-chord guitar chug, as angular and bittersweet as an old Suede demo. “I felt my heart explode,” he caws when he realises his intended has been spoken for, happily cosying up to someone with social skills. Polka dot choruses put some icing on his pain, and when the backing girls break out the “La la las” you think he might’ve found closure, but it’s a trick—this is a two-minute romantic wrecking ball; the sound of bedsit agony married to guitar pop. “Why won’t my heart expand?” groans Kozel, wishing he could move on and stalk someone else. It’s never that easy, and there’s only one way forward: rent van, buy binoculars, attend gun range, build dungeon. Or go outside.