Music: The 12 Songs Of Summer

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For shoe-gazing white-boy rock bands from England, melancholy isn't a pose so much as a pleasant vacation from despondency. That said, this brooding, expansive, 6-min. end-of-summer anthem has a chorus with a hint of optimism--"Light up, light up, as if you have a choice/Even if you cannot hear my voice/I'll be right beside you dear"--as well as the requisite lyric about long goodbyes and a soaring vocal by singer Gary Lightbody. It's also being pushed heavily by iTunes (it's currently the site's free download of the week) and record-label boss Jimmy Iovine, who, according to one station manager, "believes it can be as big as Coldplay's Yellow." He may be right.

"Float On" MODEST MOUSE

Four albums into a career as ne'er-do-well inheritors to the mantle of ne'er-do-well college rockers Pavement, this Washington State trio has produced its first truly lovely song. Lead singer Isaac Brock crows about various misadventures that inevitably melt away ("Even if things get a bit too heavy/We'll all float on") while the rest of the band makes bouncy, happy noises in the background. It's how Nick Drake's Pink Moon might have turned out if ol' Nick had been just a little happier. Perfect for a backyard sing-along as summer's last party winds down.