Pop music is awash with songs about break-ups, love, infatuation and sex – it’s the core diet of the thing - but nobody is writing about it quite like Sälen. “I used to dream of dying so you would cry at my funeral,” sings Ellie Kamio. What is going on in her mind I wonder? One of for the psychologists to explain perhaps? They’d probably give some explanation that related her words to her parental upbringing, for which Ellie gives some clues in the song: “My mama always told me to break five hearts every day.” Ouch. Don't mess with Mama Ellie is my advice.
Like previous tracks Diseasey (which I featured here) and Copper Kiss, Heartbreak Diet is brilliantly odd lyrically, but is 100% accessible due to its melodies and tune. In the game of good pop bad pop, Sälen are winning.
Sälen - Heartbreak Diet
In my email in box, the following odd word and letters: Diseasey and IILWMBF. The email sent from myself to myself. I do this sometimes when I’ve heard a song but have no time to investigate further at that moment in time. It's been sitting there a while to be honest, but the part-time blogger's in box is fundamentally just a graveyard of the unread.
A quick Google search tells me that the songs are by the band Sälen. They are Ellie Kamio, Paul Taylor Wade and Simon Milner. Simon is also a member of the group Is Tropical, who I wrote about in what seems like a thousand years ago.
The band explain Diseasey on their Soundcloud as follows: “This is a song to soundtrack the bad decisions that felt so right at the time, one for anybody who has found themselves in an awkward lust-driven situation and is left asking both themselves and their new pal, why am I in bed with you?”
Let's face it we've all been there and someone has probably also thought it of you.
What they don’t explain is that despite the slightly disturbing lyrics such as “I’m into your sickness,” Diseasey is a weirdly infectious leftfield pop song – the sort of track I can imagine cool Hoxton hipsters ‘digging’ (is Hoxton still cool? I have no idea) but also your regular pop fan enjoying when they’re having a bit of an edgy day and fancy listening to something that isn't in the charts. Likewise the decent but not quite as good IILWMYBF (yes it stands for I’m In Love With My Best Friend), which you can find by clicking on this link. It was released about half a year ago and continues the exploration of odd love, although to be fair, there’s a strong argument that your true love should also be your best friend, so maybe it's not so odd after all?
Sälen - Diseasey
