New Music: Lucky Soul: "The Great Unwanted" [MP3]

Some pop music has always been for the lonely, the weird, the outcasts. In 1963, teen-pop singer Lesley Gore had a hit with "It's My Party", where a birthday celebration ends in tears when "my Johnny" gives Judy (not Lesley) his ring. London's Lucky Soul know the feeling and, like Gore, rise above it through grand, unabashed pop: "It's your body, and you can die if you want to," singer Ali Howard coos with deceptive sweetness on the melancholy title track from Lucky Soul's debut album.

"The Great Unwanted" is a paean to everyone who ever let loving a silly little song make them uncool. Guitarist, songwriter, and arranger Andrew Laidlaw remembers the songs that made him cry-- from Phil Spector productions to the Smiths to Mazzy Star-- and piles on enough swooping strings, piano, harmonies, and elegant electric guitar to make some of us lose our shit all over again. Especially over Howard's soft but commanding, Sandie Shaw-inspired vocal: "You can roll your eyes and feign surprise, but this ain't another spurned lover talking," she promises. Anyone who's heard "Judy's Turn to Cry", Gore's sequel to "It's My Party", knows who wins out in the end.