runner

I told someone recently that after a summer of listening to a lot of moody, contemplative music I was ready for something a little lighter. Luckily for me there’s a new Alex G record coming out next week. There are a few songs from it out already, and one of them, “Runner,” I’ve been listening to on repeat. It’s got this weird grungy vibe that makes me feel like I’m on a patio somewhere smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer with people I don’t know that well but find funny. It’s daytime. Maybe I have things to do but I have forgotten about them. Maybe I have some place to be but I can’t recall right now. I am simply along for the ride with Alex G, all the way to his tongue-in-cheek delivery of the song’s bridge: “Yes, I have done a couple bad things!” He sings it three times and then, at the end of the last repetition, his voice breaks into a scream—YES, YES!!—somewhere between blood-curdling and ecstatic, like it’s a celebration, like the only thing that matters is the simple fact of being able to use his voice at all, like nothing is that serious or that important, like a reminder that lightness already on its way—we can make it ourselves.