Oscar Zia – Betong

“Not only is this song about pétanque, but they’re using the balls as percussion, too.”

Tim: Title translates as ‘Concrete’; upshot of the lyrics is that he’s carved into concrete that he hates her, but whenever she comes along he can’t resist her. Challenge: despite knowing all that, see if you can manage not to imagine everyone involved playing pétanque.

Tom: I clicked on this before reading your introduction, Tim, and all I could hear was that repetitive clonk. So for me, not only is this song about pétanque, but they’re using the balls as percussion, too. ANYWAY.

Tim: So this has all the hallmarks of starting off as a fairly dull and damp ballad…

Tom: And it stays that way!

Tim: What? No – then that chorus comes along, bangs everything up a bit, and suddenly it all sounds just delightful.

Tom: Really? What on earth makes you think that?

Tim: A melancholy voice becomes angry, a whole new load of instruments all arrive, and the contrast between the two sections is just great. Standard dip down and up again comes for the second verse, but it doesn’t here sound too dull like it so often does. Not sure exactly why, but for me at least it all just sounds good.

Tom: Except for…

Tim: Except for bloody pétanque.