Dancing All Alone in Your Room

I’ve seen Crooked Fingers a couple times, and a few years ago I remember having a nice chat with Eric Bachmann at a Smog show at a friend’s tiny club in Waterloo (Bachmann was acting as Smog’s road manager at the time, I think). But I haven’t followed their records all that closely and apparently missed out on their 2005 album Dignity and Shame altogether. Which is my bad, because this is a really lovely song.

• Crooked Fingers, “Twilight Creeps” (buy here)

Feels like he’s trying out his best Springsteen here, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that in my house. That piano line is elemental, and it really helps to sell the words. The parts that make me breathe in deepest, though, are the cooing girl-vocals and the trumpet. Makes you think it’s not just the singer saying his piece, it’s something less – I dunno, less defiant? Less lonely? More comforting? (Huge thanks to Michelle for putting this on a mix that she gave me.)