Song of the day

"Where Do You Run To", by Vivian Girls. This sounds like a girl group (sixties or twee-pop, take your pick) backed by Joy Division. An unusual combination of influences, perhaps, but I can't even begin to describe how much I love this song. I was put off Vivian Girls by their name: an indirect reference to Henry Darger, an "outsider artist" of the type once championed in august journals such as the otherwise impeccable Chemical Imbalance. Outsider artists are a concept I have some ethical/moral problems with (musicians too, viz. the cult of Daniel Johnston). I can't help detecting a hint of patronising on the part of the champions of these poor wretches who wouldn't be making this "art" (or being subjected to at least the possibility of involuntary exposure and/or exploitation) if they could keep their own lives under some degree of control. Okay, it's a difficult issue, and I don't want to start any arguments. (And a comparison of the fates of Robert Crumb and his two brothers either supports or undercuts my own thinking, depending on where you happen, or choose, to view it from.) And maybe it is my problem. It certainly would have been my loss if I had allowed my own hang-ups to stop me from stumbling upon this fine song.