Lincoln Jesser :: "We'll Be Fine"

It is a feature of both the synthesizer fever of the past few years and the crippling hype of modernity that causes so many artists to look down at their keyboards and think, "Somewhere in you is the five note sequence that can rocket me to fame." But it's a pop math problem: In what order should those notes go? Which of those thousands of possibilities will be the magical panacea that will launch a career from the depths of a regional club scene, a college campus, or a bedroom. The dream proves powerful. Just ask MGMT, who largely made their career on the four or five note hook of "Kids". Progeny of Los Angeles, Lincoln Jesser answers the question immediately on "We'll Be Fine", a quick stutter-step of electro-pop that will remind the listener of the very excellent debut solo EP from the RAC. Of course, this is all a trope; we've all seen it before. But even this expectation does little to remove the charm from the ebullient hooks and subtle, creeping sadness of "We'll Be Fine". As Jesser sings, no matter the odds or the history of synthesizer pop, "still we try."