Tunng - It’s Because… We’ve Got Hair (Full Time Hobby)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
About a quarter of a second.
That's my estimation as to how long it'll take for this track's gentle generosity to hit you. How often do the bands you listen to go to the extent of thanking you in their songs? Not only do this band do it once, they do it over and over again. It's hard to place exactly where these lyrics are directed or what they truly mean, but the way they lead you around all these bizarre associations plays a part in stopping it from becoming just another nicey nicey songy songy.
It's not all that easy, and there is depth to it if you're willing to look, though if it's that kind of exploration you're looking to undertake the album rather than the single is probably the place to start. If you're going to do that, it's perhaps best to not ruin your enjoyment of the full length by playing 'It's Because... We've Got Hair' over and over ad infinitum. Instead, let its power consume you just a few times, like some fleeting warm gesture, let it sit around the corners of your mind until you're blissfully reacquainted with it when its sandwiched by whatever Tunng chose to frame it with on their LP. This way, the depth of the single will no doubt be able to more coherently refer to its surroundings, and as such reinforce them.
People who don't understand the magnetic engrossing power of restraint and rhythmic energy, to put it bluntly, p*ss me off something chronic. No, I can't tell you what it is about that specific tempo of tambourine at that specific point that makes it so exciting, and I won't try because if you hear it and don't know what I'm getting at, then you clearly have no soul (not that I have the slightest clue of what a soul might be, or indeed whether anyone has one).
This is a song so nice and gentle that I feel like I owe it way more than I owe you or myself. So, if you buy it and don't like it, fine, I will take full responsibility, and if you email me then I'll send you a song the sonic opposite of this one so you can play it at the same time as Tunng and not have to hear it (incidentally, this might sound exactly the same as 'It's Because... We've Got Hair', I've not decided).
Artists in this article: Tinariwen, Tunng
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