What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention.
This week: Labi Siffre.

Every now and then I hear a song playing on the car radio or in some public place like a shopping mall or whatever, that I don’t seem to “know”, yet conjures up such a strong, warm feeling of nostalgia, that the world somehow just seems to be such a much better place all of a sudden. Everything simply fits. Know what I mean?
On these moments I’m always guessing I must have heard the song when I was a child on some sort of special occasion, or maybe it was playing in the background during a situation that just made a strong impression on me in one way or another. Might even have been the actual song itself leaving the impression.

A few weeks back, I again experienced such a nostalgic moment when I was sitting next to my girlfriend who was driving the car that we borrowed from her mother to move some heavy goods from A to B, when one of those magical tunes again found its way out through the car speakers and into my ears to tingle my eardrums. The smooth three-part harmonies singing that “It must be love” just instantly got to me in a way I thought not to be possible for a strong, stable guy like myself (sarcasm alert, I’m a sucker for smooth harmonies).

“Take out your iphone and Shazam the shit out of it, quick!” Yes, just in time, got it. Labi Siffre. Hmm. Don’t know him. Great. Add to playlist.

The first chance I got later that day, I took my beloved JBL in-ears and gave the song another spin. Wow. This really is just great music.

The style of both songwriting and instrumentation/production reminded me a lot of Bill Withers, another one of my favorites and analyzing the song further I was just blown away by the super strong use of all the fairly simple, yet highly effective different parts in there.
Ukulele strumming away those two simple suspended intro/verse chords on top of that FANTASTIC bassline -one of the strongest parts of the song, how happily grooving-, followed by the more sophisticated woodwind-harmonized chord changes of the pre-chorus topped off with -chills of joy running down my spine- that uber cool Rhodes-lick (behold how awesome Pop-Piano can get) that leads up to that same piano bouncing away the steady quarter-beat pattern, founding one of the greatest chorusses ever written in my opinion. It must be love indeed.

Holding this years record for most repeated song in a row on my Spotify and rightfully deserving a big mention here in What I’m Listening To, this week: Labi Siffre and his ‘It Must Be Love”

Cheers and Enjoy.

Coen.