I had forgotten how deep and crunchy the bass lines are on the Gossip’s first few albums and when I was listing to Yr Mangled Heart in the car tonight it flooded back.
I remember loving this song at a moment when I was haunted by boys who had hurt me but now it feels less about me and my personal aches and more about a broader hurt, caused by a broader selfishness and cruelness which feels particularly acute during this summer of hot hot heat waves that are caused by greed and indifference. (I saw a photograph of snow the other day and wondered if it I would ever see snow again.)
Brace Paine’s bass lines are the mangled heartbeat at the core of the song. Back in 2007 when I lived and breathed this album it didn’t occur to me how spare it really is: mostly just voice, drums, bass. I was fixated on Beth Ditto’s voice when I first loved this song, now it’s that bass that sustains me: relentless and loud and angry and still alive. Still alive. Still alive.