In case you’ve managed to avoid this news until now, February 14th is Valentine’s Day, the greeting card industry holiday that can compel even the least romantic to confront the topic of love. Over the past few years, plenty of our favorite indie rockers have explored the excitement and complications of love in terrific songs. Here, we’ve collected fourteen tracks about love’s many facets, including the swooning romanticism of Real Estate, Cass McCombs, and Bare Wires.
Affairs of the heart don’t always end well, however, and the mix also offers some songs that touch on love’s darker side, like the lush melancholy of Chromatics‘ “Lady” and The Antlers‘ heartbreaking “I Don’t Want Love.” We’ve also thrown in a few left turns, Sonny & The Sunsets‘ goofy “Lovin’ on an Older Gal” and Mwahaha‘s heady “Love” among them.
Ultimately, we’ve aimed to a balance the sweet and the bittersweet here, although we’ve probably tipped our hands toward the romantic side with the one-two closing punch of Sean Hayes‘ “When We Fall In” and a live cover of Daniel Johnston’s classic “True Love Will Find You In The End” by the dearly departed Girls. Still, we’re sympathetic to Mwahaha’s assessment that love is “something we’re always doing, but we never figure it out.”
Tracklist:
Hunx & His Punx — “Lovers Lane”
Real Estate — “It’s Real”
Sonny & The Sunsets — “Lovin’ on an Older Gal”
Chromatics — “Lady (Drumless Version)”
The Antlers — “I Don’t Want Love”
Cass McCombs — “Dreams Come True Girl”
TOPS — “Turn Your Love Around”
Bare Wires — “I (Heart) You Tonite”
Mwahaha — “Love” (featuring Merrill Garbus)
How To Dress Well — “& It Was U”
Tamaryn — “Love Fade”
Little Wings — “Sandy Babe”
Sean Hayes — “When We Fall In”
Girls — “True Love Will Find You In The End” (Live, Daniel Johnston cover)
