Looking Back

I love a record that holds up. Most of them don't. The brief fit of adoration I felt for Vampire Weekend's Contra, for example, has rapidly dwindled away into repeated frustrations at trying to replicate the initial experience. There is no heart, and so it is difficult to visit it again.

I'm listening to Lily Allen's excellent It's Not Me, It's You, from last year. Some of you may remember, the album came out of nowhere to be one of my favourites. I'd been a big fan of Alright, Still, Allen's 2006 debut, when it came out, but it deteriorated, and I can't get through an individual track to this day. So I'm thrilled to report that Allen's latest, which I've not listened to in months, is still a great, great accomplishment. The lyrics are smart and clever, the latter ever-present to fill in for when the former is in shorter supply, and the music is simply perfection. There are layers to the sound here which still reveal themselves, even now. And this is a record I know backwards and forwards, so that's quite a feat.

There isn't a point to this entry, really. I'm fascinated by the seemingly arbitrary differences that make one work thrilling upon launch, only to have it sink into the sea, and another become a lifetime's obsession. If I could figure out the points between the two, let me tell you...