Life’s Just Sitting There

Alice Phoebe Lou “Lose My Head”

“Lose My Head” starts speeding out the gate on a chugging groove, setting up a reasonable expectation that the big guitar chords will hit on the chorus like a typical alt/indie/pop-punk sort of song. Alice Phoebe Lou sidesteps that by coasting on the groove and filling the arrangement with delicate piano and atmospheric guitar, which feels like switching to a widescreen framing. The song gets more dense as it rushes forward, but then she flips expectations a second time in just two minutes, letting the energy dissipate and crashing down into a final sequence that’s just piano chords and vocal. The last bit is different enough that it feels more like a medley transition, but Lou makes it feel seamless on an emotional level as it pays off the lyrics and makes the forward momentum of the music end at a satisfying location.

Buy it from Bandcamp.