when i was 12:
"VANILLA VODKA"
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That voice. It's so sudden and so immediately delightful that I can't help but get lost in this frantic, two minute adolescent carnival ride of a song. And it doesn't matter if the instruments occasionally fall off kilter, as if everyone involved is playing their hearts out on a giant carousel, trying desperately to keep rhythm as the centrifugal force splays their limbs and pulls at their bodies. It's still a carousel and I'm still having fun. And then there's that decent into chorus-line-style half time. Irving Berlin couldn't have done it better himself. It's as if When I Was 12 (and what a perfect name for such unencumbered musicality) is documenting their entire lives, and doing so in less time than it takes to order a Mcdouble. From "I had to drink vanilla vodka just so I could kiss you" to "stop being a decoration in your fucked up life", they take us swiftly from innocence to admonishment and love every moment of it.
-Joseph