Swansea Sound “Music Lover” (art by Catrin Saran James)
Gather round C86 lovers! The indie twee pop super group, Swansea Sound (which features members of Heavenly, Marine Research, Talulah Gosh, The Pooh Sticks, Catenary Wires and more), have just released a brand new song, “Music Lover,” and it is perfectly in line with the members’ extended body of work sonically as well as their cheeky humor and political wit. The song is a peppy, jangly takedown of Spotify’s creepy CEO, Daniel Ek, a man known and loathed the world over for being so out of touch with what it actually means to be a working musician; the depths of his tech bro douchery truly know no bounds and Swansea Sound isn’t going to let him off the hook like so many others have.
Following earlier work like “I Sold My Soul On eBay,” this song is another pointed jab at the world we currently inhabit which yeah, can feel pretty damn soul-less at times, given over to the technocrats that track our every move and make it feel near impossible to escape. The lyrics are a glorious tribute to Ek (aka a hate song) told from “his” perspective and leave absolutely nothing to the imagination:
I’m a music lover / I’m a music lover / Sony to the right of me Warners to the left of me / We’re like brothers
Yeah we’re music lovers
Every single note they sing subsidizes podcasting
Free speech lover / I’m a free speech lover
Fascists are ok with me if they pay subscription fees
I just love it all
I just love it all
A hilarious animated video accompanies the track, featuring a billionaire boy band “playing” the song with Ek on guitar, Bezos on drums, and Zuck presumably providing backing vocals as he stands off to the side. Later on to really round out the elite jerk appeal, Elon Musk makes a dancing cameo before the avaricious foursome takeoff in Bezos’ space ship. Or is it Musk’s? I can’t keep track of all the space penis vanity projects these days. I mean, who can?
The song has been packaged as Music Lover EP which includes two holiday songs, the previously released “Happy Christmas To Me” and “Merry Christmas Darlings,” which the band notes is “a Cheap Trick cover version in a kind of glam rock style.” The cover is only available on the CD though, but that comes with a Christmas card you can have signed by the band or unsigned to add your own message so it’s worth picking up. Both versions are available via Bandcamp.
Watch the video for “Music Lover” below: