Those of you who listen to music mainly for the tonality, flow and hooks to the extreme of shunning lyrics could probably sympathize with the knock-out punch I walked into. These are the opening lines to “In Heaven”:
The dog’s confused
She just paces around all day
She’s sniffing at your empty room
The backdrop is unmistakably uplifting until the lyrics hoovered up the entire atmosphere. The realization dawns that this is about coping with a death of someone dear. Yet the improbable sensation of floating remains. Held aloft by the buoyant music, you wonder about the enforced altitude and anxiously anticipate an appointment with pavement that never occurs. It’s one thing to collude sadness with melancholy melody, but quite another to force a smile with an upbeat song about sadness. Even without that interesting aside, it shines as a very good tune.
“In Heaven” is the first track off of Japanese Breakfast’s Psychopomp album, released in April of this year.