A moment of synchronicity last week. The first track in the New Music Monday playlist was “Farrah Fawcett Hair” by Capital Cities, which is summery, quirky and fun. I’ve listened to the whole album, In a Tidal Wave of Mystery, a couple of times since then. There are some fantastic bouncy synthy tracks in the first half. The opening track “Safe and Sound” is particularly splendid. The second half feels uninspired, but maybe I just need to give it some more time. If you like Chromeo, you’ll dig Capital Cities.
Then, after having read Jonathan Kellerman’s Deception last week, I had downloaded When the Bough Breaks (1985), Kellerman’s first Alex Delaware novel, for the trip home. Monday evening in bed I was on chapter 4, when I read the line “The girl on the other side was a sweet young thing with Farrah Fawcett hair and a face almost as pretty as that of her role model.” I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m enjoying it so far. I’m occasionally jarred by its casually sexist descriptions of women, but they way it illustrates Milo Sturgis’s struggle for acceptance as a gay man on the LA police force is contrastingly progressive. The 1980s was a very different time.