Lucky Soul, "Ain't Never Been Cool" (2006)


We are dorkiest when we're in love, because being in love allows us to be huge dorks. "I ain't never been cool," Ali Howard from Lucky Soul declares. "Do what you want, do what you want to/Say what you want, to who you want to/Be what you want, be who you want to/Love what you want, love who you want to."

As that pronoun shift suggests, this glorious song is only partly about being love's fool. It no doubt also alludes to the possibility that, like the Pipettes (who have been attracting an odd, and to me inexplicable, share of haters), Lucky Soul may, if they become as big as they deserve to, also get trashed for their retro Spectorish sound. (Of which we've been getting quite a few perfect examples this decade. 2002: McAlmont & Butler's "Falling." 2005: The Raveonettes' "Ode To L.A.," the Guillemots' "Trains To Brazil," Johnny Boy's "You Are The Generation...." 2006: "Pull Shapes," or We Are The Pipettes tout court, and now this, although you could also make a good case for any of Lucky Soul's previous songs: the moodier "Lips Are Unhappy," or the track they obviously named in my honor, "My Brittle Heart." And perhaps their entire forthcoming album, The Great Unwanted, due March 2007.)

So, say it now before they get their claws in you: "Do what you want, do what you want to." Shout it loud, shout it proud.