221. Song No. 3,363: “Fingertip,” Aqualung
Magnetic North, 2010

There’s a lot I love about Aqualung and a lot that Matt Hales does right in the wide-ranging ground each of his albums prodigiously cover, whether he’s the recording artist baring his soul through intricately arranged songs or the mixing mastermind at the helm of it all. But I love this band the most when Hales is flinging catchily upbeat ditties celebrating love in all its forms into a world that always needs more soft-edged, beautifully rendered music cutting against the din.

“Fingertip” is one of those irresistibly bouncy offerings that I just adore, both as a song unto itself and as proof that no one makes lovesick lyrics sound as sweetly determined as Hales does.

At a time when I’m re-examining so many of the music-makers I loved as an angsty young adult who didn’t know how to do anything other than give in to hormonal impulses and helplessly follow wherever my idiot heart led, it’s been a weird couple of years hearing some of the lyrics I loved best with an adultier perspective and cringing at how so many of emo’s and indie’s most revered outfits betrayed little understanding that the object of their affection doesn’t want to be treated like a possession placed on a pedestal and divorced of their humanity. So when a lyrical wordslinger can verbalize the pangs of wholly consuming love while honoring the autonomy of the one they’re aching to be with, it’s a breath of a fresh air:

…And I’ve been waiting, impatient, down underneath
Just to catch you when you fall for me
I want to eat with you, sleep with you
Kiss you and listen to you
Get you what you want, give you what you need…

This song gets bonus points for elevating the mundane, too. Like, as transformative and powerful as love is, it’s not all heart-eyes and dopey sighs if it’s going to have a fighting chance at blossoming into the best version of itself: It’s a living thing that needs to be mutually nurtured and respected and understood and valued, but it’s hard to make even the most rewarding sustained effort sound sexy and exciting and worthy of a song. Tucking in little references to the small things that make a big thing so great and so worth the work between the mightier, full-throated declarations of adoration is such an effective way of acknowledging the full gamut of what love is when it’s an every-day investment.