Part of an ongoing series where I revisit 2003's record, Decide To Stay And Swim
It has been a long time since I've had this song in the set list, though I used to love playing it live. It was always a treat to dig into that opening riff on an electric guitar and really blast it out, Billy Bragg style.
When I was writing this song, I had just met Andrew Vincent and was starting to get into his music; especially his two brilliant LPs from around this time: "A Short Trip With the Pirates" and "Love The Modern Way" (I wrote about Modern Way for Ottawa Showbox recently).
As I continued to write it, this song took on a Summer theme and "AV" ended up in the title as both a nod to Andrew, but also as a goofy play on "KC and the Sunshine Band", for whatever reason. Maybe it was the Summer thing propagating in my brain.
I love the instrumental ending of this song. I remember I had a riff idea, similar to the one at the beginning of this track. I envisioned singing a 'la-la-la' to that outro melody. I'm sure I sang it for Dave Draves as you can hear parts of that vocal under the mix. But Draves went above and beyond and built all those counter melodies and harmonies over the line. I love the way it builds and resolves out of a gorgeous climax of sounds. A pretty sweet and hooky moment on this record, I think, and one of my favourites.
Here is the original where you can hear that intro and outro:
This is the new 2018 take, which is a much more stripped down version:
Spotify and other streaming services start August 28th. In the meantime you can follow me at the links below:
Lyrics:
I'd trust my instincts too
If I stared that long at my shoes
But I’ve got these acres plowed
So we can hang around
With Summer bleached-hair fads
And turntables from our Dads
Well I’ve got my Kelp Records on
And we’ll engrave a song
If I ever forget her
In tank-top sunset blurs
Will you neglect to call me Tom
And we’re defusing bombs