Sometimes there's just nothing better than a sad song, and Joe Pernice and his little band have a better handle on a certain kind of urban wistfulness than any other artist working on the planet today. Not just breakup songs, but also ruminations about failure and loss of all sorts, they have an uncanny ability to find the core of sadness in a beautiful moment. You probably only know about them (if at all) from a song they had in a Sears (!?!) commercial, or from being around me while I couldn't stop talking about them. In a better world they would get played on radio stations you can actually hear without a police scanner.
1. "Judy" from Yours, Mine & Ours...A song about watching The Wizard of Oz while a loved one sleeps on the couch? You gotta be kidding me. Until he says "So let's pretend our lives will never end. Somehow. Someway." I can't listen to this song very often, because it just kills me.
2. "Zero Refills" from Live a Little...If Kevin Federline wrote this song I would say that he was a genius. I put a lot of emphasis on the lyrics, but the way they let the last chord of the chorus sustain is a perfect, beautiful touch.
3. "Cronulla Breakdown" from The World Won't End...this may be the best last-song-on-the-album since "Here Comes A Regular." Simple and lovely.