Spring is the time for new romance, or at least for new hopes of it. Feelings left dormant in Winter are warmed over and, like the emergence of crocuses on the first warm days of the new year, they begin to sprout, surprising the heart that such colors were even possible again. Pleasure-pop rock outfit Holy Tunics explore the carefree allowance for wanting, and the potentially immeasurable disappointment of not getting it, on their single, “Clutching the Straw Map to Your Heart”. The song is the A-side of their Seagreen Records debut 7-inch, out March 11, and it’s a painfully optimistic ode to loving with eyes closed. The initial bassline paves a smooth road on which it never rains, and convertibles drive with their tops down, almost too good to be true. Bright and gainful guitar tones mimic the wistful melodic euphoria, cutting into some harshly fuzzy territories in the chorus.
But perhaps it’s not all peaches and cream. The song’s title, and subsequent chorus, plays on the logical tool of the “straw man,” building on false pretenses to kind of shoot itself in the foot. There’s a certain sadness behind singer Nick Rogers’ cooing at first about witnessing others in love, “somewhere wherever” and noting “it seems like something that I want, just for me, just for me.” The ensuing, juxtaposing blare of the chorus goes on almost to fantasize that this love is his reach, until the song’s dubious, stuttering close.
