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Bright Eyes

Allo Darlin' were a London-based indie-pop band active in the first half of the last decade. I only came to hear of them towards the end of their career, with this the only one of their songs to properly catch my ear. It was released in 2014 as part of a "Jukebox 45s Single Club" series on the Fortuna POP! label, at a time when it was presumably still possible to release records with a degree of spontaneity & not have to wait many months to get them pressed. It's on clear vinyl.

The song has nothing to do with the famous Art Garfunkel hit, or with Conor Oberst's band. It's a charmingly upbeat number with the vocals a duet between songwriter Elizabeth Morris and guitarist Paul Rains. Her voice is the stronger, but they combine well. The lyrics are hopeful & optimistic - perhaps naively so - though none the worse for that. The music, while eminently conventional, serves the song well: a nicely-judged arrangement of guitar, bass & drums, with Morris's ukelele an unobtrusive addition.

I doubt I'd played the B-side 'As Best I Can' since buying the record the better part of eight years ago, but I gave it another spin last night. It was pretty good, with a feel and a tempo akin to that of the A-side, just not as catchy.

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