Songs For Yearning In August

by Helen Holmes

August is a devastating month: we’re all waiting around to go back to school, or to steal away on one last little vacation, or to get fucked in a room with air conditioning. August is, as well, a month for aesthetic self-improvement before the academic rigors set in. I am strictly a power pop shill, so one of my goals for this year has been to expand my musical horizons. I’m very much inclined towards drowning out all sorrows with the Top 40. Occasionally a burst of nostalgic energy will propel me towards Fall Out Boy or Paramore or Tom Motherfuckin’ Petty, but for the most part I’ve been content to trot after whatever the ex-Disney tweens are producing.

Recently, however, I’ve found the beats designed to echo my human heartbeat tend to flatten whatever ideas well up while I’m listening to them. Thus, I’ve employed the assistance of Rachel Stone, my fellow Awl summer reporter and Champion Yearner, in selecting a few new key tunes for the lovelorn and sweaty. Join me as I crawl my way out of a hole dug by Red One and Max Martin.

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