The Indie Anthology 61: essential songs

The next song in our anthology is another slice of glorious dreampop, but it also serves as a celebration. Seeing them live in less than a month. What a great, unexpected but long awaited surprise!

Song: Superfreaky Memories
Artist: Luna
Year: 1999

Unfortunately, I was never able to catch Luna live. I introduced myself into Dean Wareham's music through his latter incarnations, after getting hypnotised by 'L'Avventura'. Immediately looked for more. The now reactivated combo's greatest hits was like mana from heaven: 'Moon Palace', 'Chinatown', 'Lost in Space', 'Lovedust'... and 'Superfreaky Memories'. Oh what a song! Cathartic, carefully embellished with layers guitars, subtle orchestration, with Wareham's trademark nasal voice telling us glimpses of personal stories (he's a real storyteller) and then... the power surge of the chorus and the incredibly beautiful melody trespassing the blur after the 3.10 minute mark.
But if you allow me, I'm going personal this time (nothing related with drugs, luckily). Luna has always had a cinematic quality. Their tunes have some sort of coolness, a groove, an inner narrative, and incredible power to be associated with snapshots of life. Times, places, faces...memories. My 'Superfreaky' ones are related with two different times. Kind of a sad memory now, it was my most recurrent soundtrack after returning from Seville, a place I used to visit quite frequently during two years some time ago. But at the same time, a very happy one, it's also one of the songs I associate with Idaho and my dear friend & music genius Jeremy Jensen driving us to McCall. I really like the idea of that duality, of how a song shares a lifetime, including bad & good times, with you. Memories you know... Now will have another chapter this April, after (hopefully) hearing the tune live...