217. Song No. 3,297: “Feathers,” Fanfarlo
Rooms Filled With Light, 2012

If there’s a Fanfarlo song I haven’t fallen wildly in love with already, it would be on this album (which the internet seems pretty split on calling both Rooms Filled With Light and Room Filled With Lights) since Let’s Go Extinct and Reservoir are so overstuffed with songs I absolutely adore that I’ve let them unfairly crowd out their middle sibling. While Reservoir was my introduction to this band that skyrocketed to my stable of favorites once I finally realized they’re making the exact kind of music I crave, it’s Fanfarlo’s third and seemingly last album that’s just song after song after song that makes me involuntarily coo “Ooooh, I love this one!” to the point that I guess it’s not really too surprising that Let’s Go Extinct accounts for the only representation this band I love so much has had in 12,700 Songs thus far.

As much as it’s a delight to realize how much good music is waiting to be rediscovered and fully appreciated as I slooooowly make my way through these thousands of songs, there’s something extra-special about meeting new loves from longstanding favorites, which was very much what happened with “Feathers.” It, like so many other songs I heard as music first and lyrics second, is the kind of catchy and dance-y that earworms so deep into my head for days that it comes out in the rhythm of daily life, and I’ve loved every second of its stubbornly burrowed stay since finally hearing it in this alphabetical context that made me fully appreciate all it has to offer.

Getting hooked on the music first meant the lyrics unfurled more and more generously with every repeat listen. I’m sure there’s something psychologically telling about what lines solidify and stick around first and most impactfully, and “Feathers” is probably a perfect example with “you wake up feeling nothing at all” emerging as the clear winner there. Though with more than half the song (16 of its 26 total lines, to be exact) comprising that snippet in an alternating couplet about sirens and rivers and crashing upon metaphorical rocks, maybe it’s just laws of large numbers and the artist’s deliberate design that made such a familiar feeling the emphatically elucidated theme of a standout song in an album that’s just as teeming with musical goodies as its two overachieving siblings.