Thoughts on the new single from The Mops
The “about this song” section of The Mops’s new single begins and ends thusly:
“about a goose.”
Which. Just. Damn it.
Hand in hand
Foot in mouth
I’ll tell you, tell you
It’s a similar feeling, coming across that in the course of writing this review, as the first time a fast food burger chain’s Twitter account decided to perform marketing-as-sassy-performance-art. You don’t realize how tired you are of the standard band copy on things like track or album listings until someone decides to break the mold.
It’s an understatement, of course. This song is about a goose, but it isn’t only about that.
I cry about a bird
don’t know why
it’s about you and I, I suppose
A remarkably poignant image, and, to me, evidence that someone in The Mops has suffered terribly. Even the band’s name helps make the odd, funny/sad dynamic that much more pronounced. Or maybe I’m just grieving myself, who knows. But that’s the way of grief, it isn’t all obvious things like smelling their clothes in your closet or listening to old voicemails, sometimes something as utterly and completely silly as a fucking goose can bring home all we’ve lost.
Musically, this is a gentle bit of playful folk, ornamented well with layers of gently played guitar lines and lush harmonies spread wide as wings for the choruses. It’s masterfully done, it serves the song perfectly, and it’s an easy thing to just put on again as soon as its three minutes are up.
They have an album coming out soon, in September, according to their Bandcamp page. And I cannot wait.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
