Name That TUNE! #1

[The first in a series* of posts about songs we’ve played at the Lounge: the only rule is that someone has to have asked about the record, while it was playing.]

Rozi Plain: Stolen Shark (Played: August 9, by Tim)

Rozi Plain (it’s pronounced “rozzy”, apparently) is the common factor between the Fence Collective, which I’m sure you know all about, and the rather more delicate and obscure Cleaner Collective. I don’t really know how tight or loose a collective this lot are: where Fence has that village-y feel, Cleaner come from the larger and rather more cider-scented surrounds of Bristol. Some of the stuff is great: I’m a particular fan of Rachael Dadd and her various offshoot bands including Whalebone Polly, a name for the project Rachael shares with Kate Stables, aka This Is The Kit, who also sometimes guests with Soy Un Caballo, Francophone Belgians who seem to be playing in London quite a lot and whose LP “Les Heures Du Raison” is a real treat (Sean O'Hagan AND Will Oldham? There's a night in the pub I'll likely avoid) and a longstanding favourite for the Lounge’s more delicate moments. And so on.

And so anyway, there is quite a lot of the good stuff around this bunch of people, but I can’t shake the feeling that Rozi Plain might be the oddly fascinating kid sister of the bunch who nobody really notices until it becomes surprisingly clear that she has all the pop sensibility and a cheeky fizz and a mad glint in her eyes which sets her up and apart.

“Stolen Shark” appears to be about being slowly eaten by sharks, except it doesn’t really stack up: under what circumstances does one snag ones jumper on a shark’s tooth? How possible is it to be completely devoured apart from “a very much alive part of [ones] head”. My friends, we may be dealing with a DREAM SEQUENCE here. Or it may be METAPHOR. Or possibly we are experiencing GOOFING ABOUT. It’s not for me to say. I am happy to venture the opinion that the way the song builds to the four part weaving harmonies (courtesy of Rachael Dadd, again) is delightful. The thing to do is to listen to the song on Rozi’s myspace and then seriously consider purchasing the LP, “Inside Over Here”, which is on Fence and packed full of folk-pop fun - more so even than the myspace demos and oddments suggest.

*We hope!