Written by: Mark Abell

“I remember, I remember when your neon used to burn so bright and pink,” sings Houndmouth’s Matt Myers on the band’s single “Sedona.”

A catchy, wistful number redolent with nostalgia, “Sedona”–which is taken from this Indiana foursome’s sophomore album Little Neon Limelight–is one of the catchiest and most memorable songs of the year.

It’s a cruisin’ tune even though it isn’t explicitly about automobiles and the drum beat and guitar strummin’ makes you want to hit the highway, windows ajar, and see and be seen as the Boomers did with “Little Deuce Coupe” and “Fun Fun Fun.”

I downloaded “Sedona” in Extreme Quality for offline listening from Spotify, which sounds a third as good as a CD and immediately could perceive details in the recording that I had missed. Cranking up the volume on my Bowers & Wilkins P7 lamb’s leather over-the-ear headphones which have 40mm drivers and feel like speakers pressed against your ears, I recognized that the track begins with a howling wind; a distinctly old country western movie feel that makes you visualize the blowing of tumbleweeds and the loneliness of a western town.

The tune is ripe with descriptive visualizations: falling sandstone, burning pink neon, and for the sake of a memorable evening out with your girl, it’s layered in a welcome brand of nostalgia that’s textured and emotionally precise and not redolent with contaminating melodrama.