How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? (Pet Shop Boys). Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (The Beatles). Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand (Primitive Radio Gods). Just a few unusually long song titles that at one point made me think: how on earth can one pack these into a catchy melody? It was exactly the thought that occurred to me when I saw the title of Dead Anyway’s new single: Does Anybody Know Who I Can Hand These Things Into?

The answer to this question often isn’t only in the vocal melody. The accompanying music can be just as important to create a memorable tune. Especially when the lyrics aren’t sung, but delivered in spoken word style. And in Dead Anyway’s universe, that intersection of vocals and music is exactly where the magic happens. The way Marc Symonds sets Kate Arnold’s poetry to beats and sounds brings the already expressive lyrics to life even more .

Does Anybody Know Who I Can Hand These Things Into? is a pop song with an edge. Or, well, multiple edges. In fact: many edges. Every time you put it on, new details reveal themselves. It’s a layered song with a walking bass line, playful drum patterns, a lovely piano, sweet strings, and.. wait… do I really hear seagulls? Extra vocal lines, singing Kate’s spoken lyrics, certainly help the audience to sing along with the track’s complicated title. A really great song!

Next Friday, 25 October, Dead Anyway’s new album Tough, Listen comes to all the streaming platforms. But it’s already on Bandcamp, if you can’t wait. You didn’t hear it from me…

PS: In Kate’s recent book Kicking At Tombstones you can discover that her poems are intriguing in their own right. It contains a selection of 25 poems she wrote for her band, and each physical copy of the book comes with a code to download all of the 25 full songs.

Does Anybody Know Who I Can Hand These Things Into? by Dead Anyway is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.

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Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.