Song Of The Day No.21

C Is The Heavenly Option

by Heavenly (Le Jardin De Heavenly, 1992)

This song comes from the second album to be released on Sarah Records and the first to be released on K Records in the US. Upon the signing of Heavenly to K Records the founder, Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening, would go on to sing on every Heavenly album release after. Heavenly came from the C86 scene are often seen as typifying the Twee sound with jangly guitars and a poppy innocent sound. Their record label, Sarah, had such an influence that the term “Sarah's bands” was also used to describe the sound of that time.

The innocence not only comes across in the story that this song tells but also in the stop-starting simplicity of the song. Playing out like a teenage romance hitting problems three options are given for each problem and three results are then predicted depending on the option you are. Johnson's guesting vocals provide a contrast between the breezy, dulcet, almost child-like pipes of Amelia Fletcher and his own deeper, franker tones works well. The duet to's and fro's almost every line between the pair culminating and coming together for the infectiously poppy choruses and finishing off with a raucously sweet harmonised ending.

AR