I can sort of remember listening through Deserter’s Songs that first time round. How I came upon it was by going through the best albums of 1998, according to the website besteveralbums.com. Why that year? I couldn’t tell you. It had also received a 9.3 out of 10 rating on Pitchfork. As an avid follower of the site during that time, 2013/14, it only made sense that I should hear what it was all about. If Pitchfork said so, it must be good, right? Jeez, that place has changed. They weren’t wrong though. ‘Opus 40’ arrives in the centre of Deserter’s Songs. Not to say that I wasn’t a fan of the track on the first listen. I do recall thinking the chorus was nice. But it was the revisits from then on that properly unveiled how great the whole thing was.

The lyrical matter is actually very dark. Seems to be about a woman who’s terribly sad and tries to kill herself on multiple occasions but never dies. Mentions of ‘scratching her wrists’, ‘collapsing down upon the ocean floor’ and the obvious ‘Woke up and climbed from the suicide machine’ would probably lend to that interpretation, suffice to say. Despite all this, the music surrounding it is some of the most gracious and elevating pieces put to tape. Strings, maybe oboes/clarinets, trippy synths and an organ solo. Every instrument that you wouldn’t usually associate with a traditional rock band. They’re all in there. The music video only provides what I assume to be the radio edit, but the album provides an extended outro where the music settles down accompanied by harmonising backing vocalists and a whistling solo. It’s a beautiful take on the usual sad lyrics/happy music dynamic.

The track itself also serves as a bit of an ode to the music of the The Band and the Catskill Mountains in New York. How so, you might ask Well, this article gives a band-given recollection of how the track came to be. Reading it, it seemed to be generally good times when recording the track. How could it not be with the OG Levon Helm drumming on the song that you wrote as an homage for his band. Can only imagine the satisfaction. Yep, this is a good one. I’m also aware that the next song will be the 1000th entry on here. Big cheers. Stay tuned.