It's fitting that Ontario indie rock quartet Tokyo Polica Club (vocalist and bassist David Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook and drummer Greg Alsop) decided to play "PCH" again and again for twelve hours at Rally Gallery in Toronto (the footage was then used for the music video). The song - presumably referring to the Pacific Coast Highway - is the kind of song that's perfect for the summer. It's bright, exuberant and earworm-y with a tinged with longing, besides containing just enough lyrical complexity to merit repeated listens:
'All along the beaches of the PCHQuiet 'til I kiss you offLooking at the mirrors 'til they fade awayHoping that I'm not in loveThe wind is in our eyesIt’s hard to see your facePull over to the shoulderAhhhhSome things people say put me in a spinSome things people people say keep me guessingKeep me guessingTalk it upI heard this one before youI'm still a sucker for itTalk it upYou know I can't ignore itI'm always falling for it'
Lyrics: Genius
As Monks revealed on Genius, the track is basically about free-falling into love despite knowing better: "People just fall in love over and over again for the same reasons. It’s kinda chaotic and hectic and emotional and taxing and you ask yourself, “Why do I keep falling for these same things?”" His cheerful and boyish vocal delivery convey a sense of uncontainable youthful optimism, while avoiding a melodramatic or hyperbolic representation of love's agonies. It works with the stomping, jubilant beats to revel in longing while mildly lamenting about it. The song's main inspiration - a wistful longing for summertime - is clearly felt:
"It was our one day off back in Toronto in the middle of a long, freezing Canadian winter tour and we wanted to spend it doing something “non-tour-y.” We had this song floating around, “PCH”, that I had written in LA at one time—I was actually in Malibu when I came up with it, looking out over this crazy huge mountain canyon. I had lots of delay on my voice and this giant melody came out like I was gonna fill that space. So to give us a break from the cold ass winter, we called up our old friend Jon Drew, holed up in his warm studio for a day and recorded a song about a much sunnier place."
David Monks, A.V. Club
