2.21.24

I know I shouldn’t

Is it so wrong

To break from your kiss

To turn up a pop song

I heard Art Brut for the first time on the night before Thanksgiving, driving west on Interstate 84 in Connecticut, on the way to my sister-in-law’s house for the holiday.

It was playing on a local college radio station. Pump Up the Volume, from the British indie rockers’ 2007 album, It’s a Bit Complicated, was the single that formed an instantaneous core musical memory, thanks in large part to lead singer Eddie Argos’ vocal style of speak singing. That style, known as sprechgesang (“spoken voice” in German), puts his distinct British accent front and center, adding a depth of character and charisma to the band’s music.

I spent the next two days thinking a lot about that song. Then, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I went to a massive used book sale and found It’s a Bit Complicated in a pile of unsorted CDs. (Kids, ask your grandparents to tell you more about CDs.) I paid 50 cents for it and got thousands of dollars worth of listening time out of it.

Pump Up the Volume is sort of the ultimate music nerd song. It’s about a guy passionately making out with a girl, but he stop’s everything to turn the volume up on the stereo when an amazing song comes on.

That’s it. That’s the song.

It’s fun. It’s funny. It’s sexy.

Also, Argos is a huge comic book enthusiast. Another Art Brut song I find incredibly relatable is DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake. It’s right in my nerd wheelhouse.

But it’s no Pump Up the Volume. That one is special. It imprinted on me in a way few songs do.

(Unfortunately, there isn’t a decent album version of the song available on YouTube at the moment. The video is good, but it does break up the song with a bit of non-song stuff.)