I threw you all I had or I like it because it's awesome

It has to be clear that this point that I'm pretty analytical about music. I can (and love to) pick apart songs, trying to figure out exactly what's being done that I love or hate, and it's thrilling when I can pin it down. "Wow, Reid! You're right!" I say to myself. "High five!" And then I say, "Why would I give myself a high five just for over-analyzing a song? Put your hand down!" It can get pretty nasty from there.

But as thrilling as it can be to find the logical origin of a musical thrill, the magic of pop music is in those moments that are beyond the definition of the song. The type of production, the quality of the lyrics and even the level of musicianship are all out the window, only because the song is so good, and you don't know why it's good; it just is. It's the type of love that moves a man to excessive italics.

Earlier this week, I fell hard for a song. It was on Gorilla vs. Bear, and while I only listen to the songs on the music blogs that I subscribe to maybe 30% of the time, if one of them says something like GvB did, something like "I've listened to this about 50 times in the last day", I tend to put on my headphones (I still use them occasionally) and take a quick listen, and usually don't make it more than halfway through the song.

"When I Am Gone" by Sparrow House is absolutely nothing unique. We've heard a sad and quiet acoustic guitar song approximately infinity times before. The lyrics are fine, but nothing revelatory, as is the singer's voice. The piano additions and harmony vocals are nice, but again, nothing new. But it's that mystery of great pop songs that I can't stop listening to it. The melody turns, seventh and minor chords and familiar melodic resolutions add up—somehow—to something not only well beyond the sum of it's parts, but is almost not even related to the equation. It's glorious.

The same applies to the new Belle and Sebastian album. I still feel mostly the same way about the negatives of the album: it's production and style is dull and deritative, but these hooks are big enough to catch whales with. "White Collar Boy" kind of plods along and Stuart's vocals are pretty forced, but no amount of picking at it keeps it from being one of those songs that I get in my head, and if I don't hear the, "You ain't ugly, you can kiss me if you like" part right now, people will be hurt. My entire reason for loving is that I love it. Nothing else, no more.

It feels so good...