Thoughts on "Corner of the Sky" by Cut Copy

When the band thanked Talking Heads in the liner notes of the most-excellent Zonoscope, I thought it was more of a "shout-out to my fav band" thing more than an actual hint of influence. I mean, there was no thanks to Fleetwood Mac and "Take Me Over" sounds straight from Tango in the Night*. But I digress. I'm not here to argue about that. So the thanks was more than just a shout-out, it was to answer yes to the following question: "Hey you guys, is it me or does 'Corner of the Sky' sound like a lost Talking Heads song?"

I mean, seriously... it does. Haven't you listened to it? Here, I'll give you some time.



Still not sure? Well, take the time to listen to the entirety of Remain in Light. I'll wait.

...

You back? Cool beans, continuing forward!

So yeah, it does right? I mean, the guitar effects! Bang-on impression of Adrian Belew's signature "elephant"! As for the lyrics, they make no sense, so yeah, totes David Byrne**. The keyboards? Sounds like Bernie Worrell and Jerry Harrison were having an epic synth fight (I'll pay good money to see that in person). And the all-male harmonies! Some Brian Eno emulation (who comes across vaguely baritone-ish, to me at least) whenever he sang backup, like in "Once in A Lifetime". The drums are pretty damn whomp-whomp, which is kinda Chris Frantz's thing. And yeah, the bass is straightforward Tina Weymouth, keeping the whole thing together.

The ending? Yeah, I see what you did there: throwing me off with a slight hint to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and "Drugs" (oddly enough) with usage of "found sound".

And strangely enough, the song's atmosphere sounds like "The Overload" meets "The Great Curve". Weird, no one asked for the two to mate and have a child, but thank God they did...?

Overall, this song is made of pure amazing with a bonus side of "there is a God and He's slowly blessing the music industry".

~~

*Also, Dan Whitford (lead singer/keyboardist) has gone on record (hur-hur) to say that Tusk, well mainly Lindsey Buckingham's songs, were HUGE influences throughout.

**Okay, he has no monopoly on that, but whatever.

~~

And also props to my second all-time favorite album cover (this being my first).

This post was fueled by the music of Cut Copy, a sense of accomplishment, and Dan's utter cuteness.