A Heart That’s Beating Just For You

Bart Davenport “Dust in the Circuits”

Bart Davenport is something unexpected: An expert soft-rock craftsman who basically sounds like a version of Morrissey who opted to sell out circa 1985 to tone down his general vibe and pander to lite FM radio. Maybe that sounds a bit mean, but this aesthetic totally works – you get a very Smiths-like melodic and lyrical sensibility, but it’s all filtered through this clean, relentlessly pleasant production style. “Dust in the Circuits” is a song about romantic frustration built upon an elaborate and somewhat corny set of computer metaphors – “always out of the loop, never mind the network” – but it’s all very charming and sweet. This is very proudly dorky music, but it’s also gently subversive, with Davenport always finding small ways to add a thought or turn of phrase that seems to be at odds with the innocuous style he’s embraced.

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