Whenever I hear the Google Maps “correction” noise (the series of beeps it makes when you take a wrong turn), I think of the beginning of “I.C. Timer” by Les Savy Fav, which has a very similar series of noises. So almost every time I use Google Maps and make a wrong turn (often), I get this song stuck in my head and need to listen to it. Very good Harrington lyrics on this one: “On a plain/In a storm/There they prayed/And there we got born/Rarely made/In rare form/Fairly played/And fairly forelorn.”
“Rome (Written Upside Down)” is one of my favorite things Les Savy Fav ever did, all the songs on the EP are great and weird (“Asleepers Union” is so off-kilter and strange, it reminds me of the flow of a Zbigniew Herbert poem). The title track is one of the best Les Savy Fav songs to crank out loud in the car if you’re riding around in nice weather. I really enjoy Harrington’s sense of rhyme, and he’s got some nice images in that track: “Seating Caesar in the mezzanine/his cloak is soaked/in methylene blue/light special in the red-light district/there’s a blue light special/in the red-light district.”