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STANDOUT TRACK: No. 1, “Naturally,” an aerobic indie-pop tune that counterbalances guilt-laden lyrics about a Lothario longing for a deserved comeuppance with a peppy two-beat rhythm and happy clapping. “I hope she’s got a husband,” croons singer/songwriter Stephen Kilroy. “I hope that he is coming/To find me out and tear out both my eyes.”
MUSICAL MOTIVATION: Kilroy says the song is not autobiographical “per se,” though the 24-year-old Arlingtonian admits to “screwing around with girls at school while I had a girlfriend from whom I was on ‘a break.’” This “superficial” extracurricular interest “may have been an underlying cause” for the song’s air of frustration.
Kilroy modeled the song’s narrator on Rushmore/Royal Tenenbaums/Lost in Translation–style Bill Murray. Like the actor, “I wanted the lyrics to be cheeky and melodramatic at the same time,” he says. “The fun of the lyrics is that they make you laugh at this person’s depression.” So the erstwhile Herman Blume is “not looking for trouble/I’d rather something subtle/To come along and carry me away/A class-five hurricane.” Said tempest would clear “the smell out of my bed/The creepy sound of her voice in the den.”
CLAPPY CLAPPY, JOY JOY: “Claps are a lot more popular than I ever thought,” says Kilroy, noting that fans have told him that “any song with clapping is awesome.” The palm piloting in “Naturally” began as a joke, he says, “much like a lot of our music. But it gets people into the song at shows and seemed like a pretty good kick-start to a debut album. Three claps, and then it’s off to the races!” —Dave Nuttycombe