cavalcade

Bikini Atoll - Desolation Highway

The start is here is homely and simple, like watching someone paint a landscape, a nice way of filling up a great empty weekend. It grows from this into something unexpected, equally like a friendship that blooms out of nothing, and the way you head out on a warm day and find yourself happy to see everyone, almost surprised they're there. You're reminded of how hard it is to ever be far away from people you don't know - even in your bedroom, or your kitchen, strangers are only a shout away. And here they are, and you all head into the sunset together.
When the song stops, three minutes in, it's something strange, as if the sun goes down - but immediately rises again, by popular demand, like God's encore. Everything everywhere continues, tinged in heavenly red, and everyone gets Utopian. I don't really know how people can create this much joy with only three or four chords, but I'm glad they can. (Also - that drum beat is fucking legendary.)

Bikini Atoll are now defunct, but you can buy Moratoria, from which this is taken, here.