Loney, Dear :: "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl"

In 2006 I ran smack into Loney, Dear's "I Am John." There wasn't a cohesive rationale behind my affection, other than an immediate and unwavering need to listen to it. It was the cascading arrangement. It was the over-the-top cloying bells and chimes. It was that I couldn't quite make out the lyrics. It was a lot of things.

I had a job interview that afternoon on the top floor of a building on the East River in DUMBO. It was for a job teaching creative writing over the summer, a position for which I was incredibly unqualified. I had taught 4th grade English poorly for five months, which in my mind made me more or less able to teach creative writing to high achieving students in four-hour sessions through July. Or put another way, someone let me take care of their fish for the weekend and instead, I killed the fish and tried to steal their television. As I poked my way through the snow and up the stairs into the loft space that passed for an office, I pumped "I Am John" and it made me forget everything I just described to you. I was suddenly more than qualified. If they didn't hire me, it was certainly their loss.

I didn't get the job and two summers later I missed 2008's Loney, Dear's contribution, "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl." It's dreadfully small and I wouldn't blame you if you missed it too. Based on a languid keyboard progression and looping vocals that sound like a drunk bee hive, "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl" is the most beautiful thing since the 8th floor of that DUMBO loft. It's so tiny and so squeezed in the cracks; so brittle and so important. It's destructive in the most silent way possible and I defy you not to be moved by the final minute. It makes the eyes water and the spirit go sentimental. Put another way, it's overestimating yourself while watching snow blow across the East River.

Listen :: Loney, Dear - "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl"

Bonus :: Loney, Dear - "I Am John"