I can’t believe it’s nearly September. The days are bleeding into night quicker than ever, the festival season is almost over and the summer feels like one long unfulfilled promise. Even though I don’t have to go back to school, I still have that same bummed-out feeling of the holidays having passed by way too fast. Compensating a little, New York duo Small Black have written a song that sounds just like that feeling.
“Despicable Dogs” ushers in the autumn with one long forlorn wave goodbye to the summer, recalling New Order were they lovelorn Manhattan kids with floppy fringes instead of thick-skinned Mancs with a hirsute bastard of a bassist.
First, there’s that typical New Order trait of giving songs names that bear no obvious relevance to the lyrics – I’m struggling to think of a song less despicable than this. Then there’s the bubbly synths with a melancholic pulse that New Order pretty much invented. It’s kind of dance-y, kind of teary, like an 80s disco before the superstar DJs took hold. I feel like I might have just described M83, but Small Black are just that bit more delicate and less French.
That this song could’ve quite easily jumped straight off both the Lost in Translation and Donnie Darko soundtracks just enhances that feeling of lost summers and broken hearts, and it makes me love it that bit more.
Small Black – Despicable Dogs
Small Black – Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)
