Plumtree - Scott Pilgrim

Some people want complexity in their music. They're not satisfied if a song doesn't have thirty chords, forty-five different time signatures, and indecipherable lyrics.

I don't know anyone like this, but I'm aware that such people exist. Needless to say, I am not one of them. There's obviously nothing wrong with complexity - and a lot that can be amazing about it - but the sort of complexity I'm referring to is, quite simply, boring.

Which brings me to "Scott Pilgrim": the simplest song you've heard in months. There are four lines in these three minutes one second. And the word "yeah" - I'm not sure if it makes a fifth line or not. You won't care. You'll bob your head and maybe tap your foot and if you're really cool you'll probably be unable to keep yourself from dancing. This is the sort of song that the phrase "power pop" was invented for. The guitars crunch, the backing vocals don't let up, and everything clicks into an undeniable slice of joy.

This song is not complex; it is perfect. And it's in the archives at the radio station, a fact which brings me no small amount of happiness. Plumtree are gone now, broken up in 2000. But, as you may know, this song lives on as the inspiration for Brian Lee O'Malley's incredible Scott Pilgrim series. So don't - please don't - keep yourself from dancing.

Download: Plumtree - Scott Pilgrim