Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time on KEXP, is "(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love" by Split Single, from the 2021 album Amplificado on Inside Outside Records.
Jason Narducy can often be found playing bass for Superchunk and Bob Mould’s band; on his own, the Chicago-based musician records as Split Single, and he'll be releasing his third full-length, Amplificado, on June 25th. He continues the high-standard of musicianship he finds in his side projects by recruiting R.E.M.'s Mike Mills on bass and his usual bandmate Jon Wurster on drums.
For today's Song of the Day, Narducy sends out a “message of love and support to the LGBTQ+ community,” strengthened through its accompanying video, directed by Jamie Fleischel. In a press release, he shares:
The chords and melody for this song sounded like defiance to me. I wanted to write a lyric that matched this sonic mood. The first words that came into my head were “She loves her and he loves him.” So it ended up being an unconventional love song. I’m expressing support and joy for diverse couples everywhere, including but not only my friends that appear in the video.
I met Jamie Fleischel years ago but didn’t find out until recently that he was making these great videos for Wilco and Jeff Tweedy. He and his family joined me weekly last fall to write get-out-the-vote postcards and we grew close enough for me to feel comfortable asking him if he’d be interested in making a video. I love how he captured the unabashed joy in the song through the footage of the charismatic kids and loving couples. The visual narrative is in line with the lyrics but also evokes what many of us are feeling with vaccines, more sunshine, and the wicked witch out of office: finally something to look forward to. I hope it makes people smile and I hope it makes people feel less lonely.
