Song of the Day - In Stitches

Today's song comes from a band who sadly split up a while back, Scottish fourpiece The Dykeenies. They have been described mostly as an indie-rock band, but some songs have crossed into other genres, such as 'art pop' (I have no idea what this really is) and 'new rave'. Releasing two albums and five individual singles, the band struggled to become as big as they would have liked, peaking at 53 with Clean Up Your Eyes. One (assumedly deaf) reviewer compared lead singer Brian Henderson's vocals to those of Brian Molko, which I think is wildly inaccurate, but maybe you will agree.

Here is Stitches:

So What's So Good?

A fairly melancholy guitar riff to start off, accompanied by powerful drums, giving a sense of sadness but hope. Then Henderson's vocals kick in, softly at first, but as the song reaches the first pre-chorus the vocals become louder and more emotionally charged. Henderson seems to have a habit of sounding really far away from the mic when he sings, which is bizarre, but he seems to strain his voice. This does however make it sound more emotional and bring out his natural Scottish accent.

Lyrically the song is empowering, as though you feel that he has been emotionally hurt before (hence why he needs stitches, though figurative ones) he is going to carry on. This gives a powerful, albeit cliche, message about carrying on in the face of adversity, or as Chumbawumba so eloquently put it, getting knocked down but getting back up again.

This song is not particularly upbeat and is not one which you could describe as happy, but it's not depressingly downbeat. It is a song that feels more punchy and even to some extent sounds better at night, in the dark, but that might just be me.

Sadly The Dykeenies don't exist as of 2011, but this tune remains a classic, at least to me.