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Cliffie Swan Merge Seventies Pop and Nineties Grunge on 'Yes I Love You'

Stream a track from the Brooklyn duo's new album 'Memories Come True'

June 15, 2011 4:45 PM ET
Cliffie Swan Merge Seventies Pop and Nineties Grunge on 'Yes I Love You'
Oto Gillen

Click here to listen to Cliffie Swan's "Yes I Love You"

Brooklyn duo Cliffie Swan's Memories Come True finds a startling, gorgeous middle ground between the mid-Seventies smooth pop of Fleetwood Mac and Carly Simon and the dynamic, crunchy alt-rock of the Nineties. The band, who were known as Lights until last year, expertly balance sunny harmonies and stoned riffs throughout the set. On the lovely opener "Dream Chain," they alternate between easy-going rec room balladry and fuzzed-out chords, but in other tunes, like the groovy "Soft and Mean" and the grungey "California Baby," the extremes of their style mingle seamlessly. Memories Come True will hit stores on June 21st, but you can stream "Yes I Love You" today.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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