Vance Joy – Lay It On Me

“Pure drama.”

Tim: You might not remember the name, but you’ll probably remember his song Riptide from a few years back, as it went top 10 basically everywhere and has been a staple of chill out playlists ever since. Our reader, Henrik, sends this in as his latest, describing it as “a song that is just pure drama.”

Tom: That’s a bold statement, and I’m not sure it’s a good one. Is it pure drama?

Tim: He’s not wrong.

Tom: I’ll be honest, I misheard “put it in my coat” in the first verse as “put it in my cock” and I was very confused. Anyway.

Tim: Quite the builder there, but it’s odd, as it’s a build that I didn’t really notice until it had basically entirely built – more a sort of gradual growing through childhood than the teenage growth spurts most songs come with. That’s fine, but it did mean that I slightly faded out at the start, and got a sudden shock when I heard the big brass blast at the chorus.

Tom: Yep, that’s about what happened to me. This sort of jaunty brass-pop isn’t really my thing, but I can appreciate how well it’s put together, and that middle eight — when the backing singers come in — is admittedly pretty damn good.

Tim: Listening a second time, paying attention to it properly, I discover that actually it’s beautifully crafted, and a joy to listen to. And “pure drama” is an excellent way to describe it.

As far as the video goes: I’m sure it’s lovely, but I’m too distracted by the fact that he’s the spitting image of that guy off Game of Thrones and Iron Fist, and all I’m really wondering is why his hand never starts glowing yellow. But that’s just my problem.