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Dreaming of Breezy British Days
A BMT Mixtape
Most assuredly, alt 80s music is home to me.
But the truth is my musical ear most adores what I’ve dubbed British Jangly Guitar Music, the era from roughly 1987–1992.
It’s alternative, too, but it’s distinguished by its shimmeriness. Guitar-centric. Heavy on juxtaposition: usually melancholy lurks behind a deceptively pretty melody.
Lads with floppy bangs and baggy clothes. Fresh-faced girls with simple black eyeliner. Doc Martins. Overcast days with a touch of coolness. A rocky coastline. English accents…or even better, Scottish accents. Grey, breezy days circa 1990.
“All I Want” is a pop song at its heart but through a slightly off-kilter musical lens.
Every music scene, from yacht rock to grunge to neo-soul, resides on a spectrum. The Lightning Seeds were on the far side of my beloved jangly guitar music era, the very sweetest of this music scene.
Almost commercially successful but just adventurous enough to fit outside the mainstream. They skirted…
