For MPR music, you're connected to all songs considered. I'm Bob Boylin.

I've fallen deeply for a band that's not new, but it's new to me. They're an English band called

Curse of Lono, a name that came from Hunter S. Thompson's 1983 book. The song I want to play

is from their third album, coming in April, called People in Cars. It's a record filled with deep,

dark atmospheres, great storytelling, and it's all heard through the baritone voice of singer

Felix Bestolshimer. And here he is to take us to the song that I can't stop playing. It's called

So Damn Beautiful. This is actually the first song I ever wrote as a duet. And it's about a

wild weekend affair that ends in tragedy. And it's something that happened not to me, but to

an ex-partner of mine. She passed away shortly after we finished recording this song, which was

made the whole thing even more poignant. We recorded it here in London with our producer,

Oli Basin, during lockdown. And we were discussing who we could get into to do the female vocal.

Oli had been talking to test parks a little while earlier, so I reached out to her and she was

up for doing it, but she was stuck in Toronto, so we had to try and find someone who could

record her over there and put the whole thing together. And I'd just been talking to Mike

Timmans of the Cowboy Junkeys about another project. And luckily Mike stepped up and offered

to record the whole thing for us. It became this mad, transatlantic collaboration. And Tess and I

talked on the phone and I told her what the song was about. But to this day, I've never actually

met her in person, which is strange considering how intense and personal the song is. So this is

so damn beautiful. I really hope you enjoy this.

So damn beautiful.

Shadow is cruel from the sky. Tears well up in my eye. So damn beautiful.

The skin is stifling, this clock is fast, my legs are trembling, somewhere in the past.

...