Imaginary Genre: Transit Pop

You know this is a truly imaginary genre when I can only suggest three exemplary songs. But despite the dearth of stimuli, the idea behind this genre springs vibrant from my mind: transit pop is music that, first and foremost, evokes forward momentum, the rush of the subway train along elevated tracks. It is the sound of the city in motion, and of all the glamor and grit that entails. In its more emotional manifestations, it evokes the myriad human stories, aspirations and failings, loves and losses that travel inside every packed subway-car, bus and taxicab as they shuttle forth in the intricate ballet of mass transit. In its less sentimental representations, it at least conveys a sense of mechanical energy and velocity, pounding pistons and industrial exhaust, the precision engineering of interlocking musical pieces traveling forward in unity.

"The City" - The Dismemberment Plan
Joe Easley's wonderful-as-always drumming, a skittering forward-stumble and bounce is this lovely song's transit pop core, but note also the recurring bass-synth line and chime of the guitar that amplifies the effect, and, of course, the song title, and the lyrical focus on commuting and city details. The Dismemberment Plan always were angular pop songwriters, taking odd routes to their hooks and embracing obtuse rhythms and sometimes grating textures: in this case their indirect, paradoxical approach is wildly successful, producing a soaring, melancholy anthem of urban isolation and regret.

"Meantime" - The Futureheads
Transit pop more for the verse than anything else, again with its insistent four on the floor drum beat, and sharp, interlocking, interweaving, staccato guitar parts.

"One More Time" - The French Kicks
I know that it is the reality of millennial, internet-age Indie that music fans are presented with an overwhelming swarm of competent bands making perfectly competent sounds, an vast undifferentiated mass of chiming guitars and yelped and/or mumbled vocals; and I know little about the French Kicks, but I know they are by no means a critic's darling: a workmanlike band who have produced workmanlike Indie over the course of four or five albums or so, as far as I can tell the consensus is that they are also-rans, representative residents of that sea of competence. I would dispute whether such a backhanded encapsulation, or any such similar assessment of the life's work of a person or group of people is justifiable, but sidestepping wholesale evaluations of their catalog, I humbly submit "One More Time" for your consideration. It is a song that probably slipped through the cracks for most, but one which has carved out its own lasting niche in my music-loving heart.

Pulsating with a restless energy, "One More Time" is precisely what I think of when I think of this phantom notion of transit pop. It has, first and foremost a propulsive sense of forward momentum, in those doubled-snare hits, in the relentless chug of that keyboard that enters at about 0:27, and undergirds the song. Then there is that single synth-string melody descending softly like a plane through the sky, or like the outline of the city skyline receding in the distance. And over this entire lovely backdrop, the yearning, supple croon of vocalist Nick Stumpf soars and dives, the organic warmth and languid emotion of his drawn-out voice sprawling across the song, contrasting beautifully with the taut stutter and snap of the backing music. Add to that the drama-doubling build-up bridge which cascades back into a gush of guitar and the inspired sudden cut-off ending, and we are left with a sublime and lasting piece of Indie songcraft, one which brings warmly to life the pale ghost of this imaginary genre.

P.S. If you have more suggestions for songs that fit the transit pop bill, by all means post them in the comments and let us substantiate the genre with their addition.