'But I just love to get out and get it onI don't wanna live possessed by a memory'.
Baltimore indie pop band Lower Dens' Jana Hunter's vocals came across with crystal clear clarity while singing these verses in "Real Thing", accompanied by a nostalgia-inducing retro-futuristic synth production. I sensed the naked regret behind the confession, even though I didn't really know what she meant (this was partly because Hunter's slow, carefully paced delivery made some of the other lines hard to decipher at first listen).
It turned out that the song - which was co-written by Hunter and musician Arthur Bates - was a poignant meditation on a deep inner conflict between love and sexual desire:
"Arthur and I have had a very long, intense, chaotic and very close friendship. He's also been a major influence on me personally and artistically. I love him. When we're together, the air is full of intense melancholy, reckless abandon and a very goofy kind of dark humor. Somehow, in our years of knowing each other, we'd never written a real song together. We got together specifically for that purpose, in Houston, the town where we met, and wrote this song in about an hour. The lyrics were inspired by an advice column in an old copy of Oui magazine I found in Arthur's apartment. The woman writing in to the column seemed genuinely torn between her love for her husband and her desire to f**k around.
"I find that kind of selfishness entirely relatable, the kind of thing all of us know about ourselves and find nearly impossible to admit. Those kinds of simultaneously internal and yet universal struggles bring me to tears. What if we could all acknowledge just those kinds of flaws, accept them, resolve not to judge each other? I mean, who wants this misery? This alienation? The greed that follows generations of repression? The jealousy, oppression and injustice that come next? No. Hell no. If that's reality, I don't care to be a part of it. Or at least that's how I let myself feel from time to time, until I realize I love people and I'm part of the community of humankind and if things are gonna be better for anybody it's on me to do my part. Might seem like a lot but, for me, it's all in this song."
Jana Hunter, NPR
Personal heartbreak, a potentially devastating revelation revealed with great tenderness - it is a lot. (Though the song won't be surprising to those familiar with (2015)). Hunter's vocals bear an urgent gravity that cuts through the track's airy 80's inspired melody, confronting and freeing her chest from an inner demon:
'I'm married to a terrific guyI'll never leave until I dieBut I just love to get out and get it onI don't wanna leave possessed by a memoryI want to be young, I want to dance with an abandonAnd I don't care about the real thingEverywhere I go I'm reporting from the sceneOf somebody's missed opportunityI love you, but it's not enough (but why?)Baby, I just know ... there's so much moreBut I just love to get out and get it onI don't wanna live possessed by a memoryI want to be young, I want to dance with an abandonAnd I don't care about the real thing'
