Bright Eyes: "Light Pollution"

If you want to know what's going on in my life at any given time--and I'm talking about my inner life, not just the sorts of things I would choose to tell everyone about--you'd often be better advised to check out my Last.fm history than my blog.  My musical taste is pretty variable, and it tends to change a lot depending on what's on my mind.  The Afghan Whigs album Gentlemen and Arab Strap's Mad for Sadness, for example, are albums I only listen to while I'm down, while Belle & Sebastian's Dear Catastrophe Waitress is only in rotation when I'm feeling exceptionally upbeat.

In the past month, I've been a lot more concerned with money (not money problems, mind you--more like financial planning) than I usually am, so the Bright Eyes song "Light Pollution" has started showing up a lot in my play history.  I've always liked it a lot, of course--from the snappy snare roll opening to the 80s post punk production to the rush of the "wall of percussion" chorus--but lately it's been the lyrics ("You've got to earn this living somehow/You're good as dead without a bank account," "It's love of money not the market that those fuckers push on you") that have made it one of my current favorites.  If you've ever contemplated dropping out of the rat race, I think it will probably appeal to you as much as it does me.