#34 Little Green Cars – Angel Owl

Many of the songs on this blog are those which I’ve come back to time and again. ‘Angel Owl’ is a song I found in 2013 and it’s been on my Bittersweet playlist for years.

I’ve been drawn to bittersweet songs for a long time, but its hard to describe what bittersweet sounds like. In part, the playlist was an attempt to see what unifies these songs. But maybe its more of a vibe than a guitar tone, song structure or lyrical theme.

Angel Owl is from 2013’s Absolute Zero album. Little Green Cars are an Irish indie folk band who began writing songs together in 2008. By 2012 they were signed to the record label Glassnote and touring the US. By 2019 the band broke up, with the members going on to start a new band – Soda Blonde – or pursue a solo career.

‘Angel Owl’ starts with some gorgeously mixed guitars and the riff itself is my favourite feature of the song. The drums and bass come in for a stretch but drop back for the verse. The drums and bass are used as accents under the backing vocals in the verse which are a response to the main vocal line. The backing vocals in this song are amazing and for me are an example of how to use BVs as another instrument.

The verse lyrically fits in the folk genre, painting a picture in the abstract way that folk songs do:

On stormy nights, she waits outside
Her eyes so black, her feathers white
I kick the fire, put out the light
Burning embers cross the sky

Only at dawn
Does my angel sing

I love the dynamics in this song. Tension builds during the verse and by the end of the chorus, the post-chorus smacks you in the face with its gorgeously melodic riff and soaring backing vocals. The second verse keeps the pace up only to drop down during the chorus to allow the post-chorus to soar again. We then circle back to the intro again, with the addition of some sweet “oohs”. The outro is another intense post-chorus which finishes almost sedately on the final chord, which to me sounds like some kind of keyboard or pad rather than a guitar. Which makes me wonder what is buried under all those layers of guitar and vocals, padding out the song. There is mention of a piano and wurlitzer in the album credits?

I’m always amazed by musicians that can craft a song to take you on a journey, more through the musical decisions than the story of the lyrics. As beautiful and descriptive as the lyrics are, I feel like they are not really the point. The point is the music and the song delivers the emotion through its meldodic and harmonic choices.

It’s a song I could listen to again and again and who knows, maybe in another 13 years, I will still be listening.