169. Song No. 2,557: “Dis-connect the Dots,” of Montreal
Satanic Panic in the Attic, 2004

I have two prevailing reactions to this song:

1. I really need to give of Montreal a more sincere chance. Their sound didn’t do much for me beyond Satanic Panic in the Attic when I first tried to get into them in college; my progressively weirdening tastes make me feel like maybe they’re right up my alley these days.

2. This song sounds like one very specific summer in the middle of college when I was helplessly hooked on this album (and especially the song “Your Magic is Working,” but that’s a story for much later). This was whatever summer I was so fucking emo that I made a friend a mixed CD filled with songs that accidentally spat mixed signals and unintentionally implied romantic overtures everywhere while making shit super awkward for a spell. Because it’s apparently confusing when all your favorite songs are about heartache and unbound feelings, I guess?

This is Satanic Panic in the Attic’s first track and, despite having no discernible commonalities at all beyond the latter band’s psychedelic-era influence on the former one, makes me think of The Beatles’ version of “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which always felt like the “real” beginning of Sgt. Pepper, the introduction to the album proper coming in on the heels of a prelude’s fanfare. There is an art to nailing the first song that has a lot to do with setting the collective’s tone, and both tracks are the only correct way to kick off their respective records. It’s a feat that I will always find impressive because music theory is tantamount to sorcery as far as my ability to successfully pull off either goes.