"We never thought it would be a single. That was the first thing that they started playing on the radio out here, and we’re kind of like, “Oh my god, they’re playing like a fucking damn-near ten minute song”. So I think we were both super surprised. We never envisioned that song being played on the radio. But yeah ... I think it’s just another thing that came out like that. I always think of that song as two songs. Like there’s a first act and then a second act. There’s kind of at dead-center where it has a little break down, and a spooky organ comes in, and then there’s the next part of the song. But yeah, we, just in the demos of that song ... there were three demos, it was initially three separate songs, and then Brian [Danger Mouse] realized that there was only like a two chord difference between the songs, and so he was like, “we could really combine these”, so we just ended up combining it into this one piece".
Asa Taccone, PopMatters
2016 may have been noteworthy for many other undesirable things, but it has also been a great year of discovering stellar, ambitious tracks (some of which were released a few years ago) that go on long after the 4 minute mark. There was Preoccupations' "Memory", Angel Olsen's "Sister", Mogwai's "Take Me Somewhere Nice", Chromatics' "These Streets Will Never Look the Same", The War on Drugs' "Under the Pressure", and Nicholas Jaar's "Space is Only Noise".
There's nothing wrong with the 3 minute pop song that comes with the required number of verses and chorus and hooks to worm itself through your ear and into your head, of course, but the formula wears you down eventually, leaving you longing for something more immersive, slower-paced, and unpredictable. As 2016 draws to an end, I am happy to add Electric Guest's "Troubleman" to this list of songs that are brave enough to challenge the assumption of limited attention spans and make the listeners' patience wholly worthwhile when they finally draw to an end.
The song was included in Electric Guest's debut album Mondo (2012), and helped the duo gain widespread exposure after L.A.‘s KCRW aired the staggering eight-minute and a half song. Many reviewers - including Steven Spoerl and Sputnik Music's Marcos A. - singled out the track as the best offering on the album, while a minority, like Ian Cohen, failed to be impressed.
Cohen is right in noting that the song has some cliched opening lines ('She was young once/ Girl of the bohemian kind'), but it redeems itself soon enough. Taccone's falsetto-leaning vocals vary effortlessly in its tonality throughout the track, working with the track's sonic-driven melodies to flesh out a portrait of prolonged, unrequited attraction:
'She was young onceGirl of the bohemian kindIn the cold, bright dawnWe watched her grow
Wisdom begunSeason when the river was highOn the gray stone longI walked alone
Me and my heartFollowing the shadow she madeLike a dull sky dayI chased the sun
Back at the startI was still in love with the wayIt's a long wayFrom what's become
She's got it bad for meShe's got it bad for meThe only game she playedNow turn the other way
She's got it bad for meShe's got it bad for meThe only game she played, she played'
Lyrics: Genius.com
After an arresting electric guitar solo and a slower-paced interlude, the song undergoes a slight turn as it introduces its titular character:
'TroublemanYou wished it all awayGun in handYou found a path todayAnd I know nothing aboutTroublemanYour faith was long agoForeign landThe sea was made of stoneAnd I know nothing about'
The chorus is then repeated, with 'she' being substituted for 'he'. In another song, the abstracted open-endedness of it all might be frustrating ('Where Troubleman/ Is just the empty name'). But the inconclusiveness of the narrative is compensated for by the melody's progressive momentum, creating an immersive listening experience that reminds you of all the ambivalent meanderings along the journey of life, instead of its inevitable pit stops.
