99% of love songs are rubbish. They're either too over-wrought rendering them creepy, or just a pile of clichéd tripe. Or both. Generally both. However, when Kevin Barnes writes a love song you know it's going to be awesome. He's the type of guy who can make a mundane task like cooking toast seem like the coolest thing in the world. Tucked away on the bonus disc that came with the Of Montreal album The Sunlandic Twins is a song called Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks. The most notable thing about the song initially is that it's sung by Barnes' wife, Nina Twin, effectively making it a love song he has written to himself. Which is fine by me, if I was Kevin Barnes I'd be doing likewise. Furthermore, the other striking thing about the song being sung by Nina Twin is that it also makes one wonder why she doesn't sing more often? She is not only fully up to the task inflecting the this-is-funny-but-it's-not-a-joke tone of Barnes' lyrics, but also exhibits a slight Norwegian tinge coupled with a Home Counties pronunciation that is frankly delightful. Musically the song is similar to pseudo-psychedelic upbeat indie-pop with electronic flourishes sound of the Satanic Panic In The Attic album and the first half of The Sunlandic Twins. Nothing exceptional, but something that Barnes does better than most (in fact, everyone) and perfectly suitable to to the content of the song.
"Look in my eyes,what do you see? I’m hanging upside down like a chimpanzee" It's a pretty good opening line, but nothing compared to the utterly charming lyric that follows: "When I'm with my friends riding somewhere on a crowded bus there is nothing that I want to discuss. I just sit and smile thinking about us". As a regular bus user, this sentiment has a huge appeal. If I'm sitting on a bus whilst listening to the song on my iPod I smile and pretend.
"What is this that sends black fireworks dancing around me? When we kiss the explosiveness is life’s sweet mystery." It's a gorgeous uplifting chorus, but it's the second verse that has the song's most beautiful (and amusing) moment. As the piano rollicks and electro-gizmos squelch behind her, Nina Twin coos "Ah my kitten, I am so glad you are the way you are, you're my favourite living human by far". Every time I hear this line I long to one day be in the position to send it via text message to a special someone of my own.
Never one to resist an opportunity to declare my adoration for Kevin Barnes, it says so much about what an awesome genius he is that he can throw away a song like Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks on a EP tacked on as a bonus disc to an album. Most modern indie song-writers would sell their mothers to write a song half as good. Barnes' knack for sing-a-long pop hooks and amusing lyrical expression is frankly unmatched.
Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks - Of Montreal
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