Robin Bengtsson – Cross The Universe

“I promise you it gets better, so just work through it. “

Tim: This starts out like a very dull Ed Sheeran-style track. I promise you it gets better, so just work through it.

Tim: And actually, I’m probably being a tad unfair on that opening bit, but if we’re honest it doesn’t bode well.

Tom: I just started singing “Wonderwall” over the top, and that got me through it.

Tim: Not a bad song to sound like, though. And never mind what it bodes, because that chorus is brilliant. It’s upbeat, it’s quite catchy, it’s the sort that makes you stop typing so you can play the drums on your desk, really.

Tom: As long as you’re not playing them on your keyboard.

Tim: I don’t know – probably wouldn’t make much less sense that most of what we write. drtdkhjefw4hilg rjkn∂©®ß`tlk ngrsjknrj nkkjngrs`njgr`lknrgjnrs l’r3jnbfljknfxthxfbj negw`njklzrgd ndfb. You see?

Anyway, and then there’s the background vocals in the closing section, which are lovely because they’re quite understated but they make so much difference. Lovely.

Tom: Surprisingly good middle-eight as well: it feels like the instrumentation’s been nicked from something else during it, but I can’t think what – and it does work, anyway.

Tim: This track actually made me realise something – I am vastly inconsistent with what I say I want in a track. Just now, I said I don’t actually mind that quiet opening, but if it was in a different track or by a different artist (to pick one totally at random, Ed Sheeran) I may well be getting incredibly angry with.

Tom: Ultimately, there is no objective way to analyse music – and both our opinions will be shaped by so many transient factors that… hm. Well, I was going to say ‘we’re wasting our time here’, but I think we both knew that anyway.

Tim: I don’t quite know why – it seems that if I like a song I’ll appreciate all elements of it, but if I don’t like it I’ll use every part of it to criticise it. Basically, I have no idea what I want in a song – I just want a song that I like.

Tom: And on that, I can agree.