Some of our favorite songs are nothing more than a snapshot.
These are the tracks that serve as a musical Polaroid, capturing moments in time that seem simple and straightforward on the surface. What's deceiving about these songs is how well they reflect back the beauty of the everyday, and how they help us appreciate such ephemera.
Joel Levi's infectious new single "Light in the Neon Sign," mixed by Dave Cerminara (Dawes), is the perfect example, a driving Heartland rock number that zooms in on a memorable night with a lover—the kind we actually forget all too often. It doesn't hurt to have Dan Bailey (Father John Misty) on percussion.
"Pour the wine by the light of the neon sign/Yeah, we aren't going anywhere." It's an intimate moment, yes, but not one that's unfamiliar or special only to Levi. It's a glass raised to the blissful moments that fade from view. It's also the sort of lyrical turn that Levi has mastered early in his career. Levi explains the song:
"Light in the Neon Sign started out as a snapshot of a moment at a bar in Nashville. My son had been born, and my wife and I hadn't had a night together, just the two of us, in a long time. I had quit my day job and was a stay at home dad and musician. This song captures a point in time where the whole world stopped and all that mattered was the person sitting in front of me. We didn't have a lot of money after our son was born, but that didn't matter. We wanted to cherish the small amount of time we had together as a couple."
We can raise a glass to that, and as long as Levi keeps making music of this quality, we aren't going anywhere either.