Photo by Wolf James Photography
Valentine’s Day might be gone but a good mixtape is always highly welcome, don’t you think. Back in the days, way before Spotify and Co., mixtapes were precisely created to win the heart of a girl or boy. Well, most of the time it’s been the boys who tried to conquer a girl’s heart with a great musical taste. If you’ve ever read the book High Fidelity (or seen the accompanying movie) you know what we’re talking about. Grant McNeill from TO KILL A KING got into full High Fidelity mode for NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION.
We asked the guitarist of the beloved British indie-folk rockers about seven tracks he would ultimately put on a mixtape to impress his personal heartthrob. And he even made a Spotify playlist for those who like it a bit more contemporary. Ain’t that sweet? TO KILL A KING will release their anticipated self-titled second album on March the 2nd. Find them right here and get ready for a bit mixtape love with Grant’s playlist below.
01. The National – ‘Hard to Find’
Just one of the best songs ever, for any situation. But opening a mixtape for a lady? Absolutely. That guitar intro gives me chills every time. A song about lost, indelible love.
02. The Cure – Friday I’m in Love
Just because who doesn’t know and love this song. It’s an absolute classic and needs to be on every mixtape ever.
03. Bon Iver – ‘Towers’
Keeping the pace but getting a little melancholy, this song’s about Justin and his college girlfriend living in opposite towers of a dormitory. The theme of excitement and young love is expertly combined with looking back to a past romance with sense of peace.
04. Ben Howard – ‘I Forget Where We Were’
The lyrics in this song really struck a chord with me (no pun intended). It’s about a guy who’s down over the state of the world, but the girl he’s with is carefree, positive and pulls him through… ‘Oh hey, I wasn’t listening, I was stung by all of us / The blind leading up the wall / And as per usual, you were skipping and laughing eyes at the bedroom door.’
05. We Are Scientists – ‘Make it Easy’
Few! It was all getting a bit serious there for a minute. Time to lighten it up with an awesome upbeat indie-pop song from the masters of the genre, WE ARE SCIENTISTS. This particular one’s about how when you meet the right person, everything seems almost inevitable.
06. Jeff Buckley – ‘Everybody Here Wants You’
It’d be such an oversight to exclude Buckley from a mixtape for your significant other, the only problem I had was choosing a song. Literally anything he ever released would be perfect. You could just give them the album ‘Grace’ and be done with it. But this one, from the ‘So Real’ collection, is probably his smoothest. Terrible video though.
07. The Lonely Island – ‘Dick in a Box’
If you haven’t won her heart by now, you might as well at least get a laugh. And if things up to this point are going well, you never know, she might be into it.
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