Pitchfork

I was going through the magazine rack at local place recently and I came across one of those sound-byte- type quotes from David Bowie where he basically said, on the subject of art, that you either like a piece or you don't. He's right, y'know. You can sit around for days on end in some basement apartment smoking opium and launching half- baked theories about Russian rockets all jerry- rigged and desperate for funding, but in the end, it comes down to "I like this" or "I don't like this."

It's usually hopeless to try to convince somebody otherwise when they've decided to say "I like this" when they should be saying, "I don't like this." And vice as they say, versa. What do you stand to gain from succeeding in that argument, anyway? Unless you're selling mortgages or something. Music's the same way. I mean, you either like Fleetwood Mac, or you don't like Fleetwood Mac. Nobody wants to hear why-- it doesn't matter why. "Why" only matters to the people who are selling music-- it's crucial demographic info for those people.

Personally, over my many years of music fandom, I've developed a similar binary system for evaluating bands. Rather than being coded in terms of "like" and "don't like," my system is coded in terms of a certain elusive state I've taken to calling "That Feel." I'm not positive what That Feel is, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, and usually instantly, whether or not a band gives me That Feel. And it's not a scale, y'know? A band can't fall somewhere along the That Feel/ No That Feel continuum. It's all or nothing, baby. Sink or swim. That Feel or No That Feel.

But what, Mr. Spooky, has this got to do with you? Very little, I suppose. Except this, specifically: Pedro the Lion gives me That Feel. Alright, that's not much to go on. Maybe it would help to say that That Feel is vaguely melancholy, with no small amount of nostalgia, and a deeply buried and even more deeply inarticulate core of faith in something better. Maybe it would even help to talk about the band's sparse, sweet, melodic guitars, the wide- open spaces between their snare and their high-hat, their unassuming but solid bass, and David Bazan's quietly caustic lyrics. I could even spend some time drawing obvious parallels between Pedro the Lion, Red House Painters, and American Music Club. I could comment that this EP's last track is the first time in a long time that I haven't found myself turned off by overt religion in music. I could praise the editorial spirit, so lacking in pop music, that allows this little 20- minute- long gem to remain consistently and uniformly compelling. Et cetera, et cetera.

It's all true, of course. I just think it misses the heart of the matter. Which, of course, is That Feel. I like Pedro the Lion. Pedro the Lion gives me That Feel. That Feel is the only important thing. Don't you want That Feel? Feel That Feel! Feel it! And then, sleep.