1. “Meme Si (What You’re Made Of)”, Lucie Silvas & Gregory Lemarchal. I must’ve listened to this 30 times in the first week of discovering it, and a week later I’m still listening around twice a day. Obsession doesn’t even begin to cut it. “You’re not in love this time – but it’s all right”.

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2. “Dear You”, Josh Aeur. Oddly, this reminds me of “Hey There Delilah”. As classic as the Plain White T’s song? Probably not, but it’s held good for me through months of re-listens and I firmly believe it will become a classic.

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3. “Hazy”, Rosi Golan feat. William Fitzsimmons. A stellar little gem resonant with tenderness. “Without you, things go hazy”

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4. “From Sarah with Love”, Sarah Connor. One of those iconic love songs that comes along every once in a while and perfectly captures a certain mood/situation. Helped Canadian songstress Sarah Connor on her road to stardom.

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5. “Poison & Wine”, The Civil Wars. Wait for the chorus, and fall with the same mad crash that I did. Then listen every day for at least two weeks. “I don’t love you, but I always will”.

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6. “The Saltwater Room”, Owl City. Obviously. Even non-music aficionados eventually heard this one. It took so many re-listens for me to get tired of it.

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7. “If”, Charlotte Gainsbourg feat. Etienne Daho(or is the other way around?). This one’s probably just me – I love Charlotte Gainsbourg and have a weakness for duets and songs that are a mix of French and English.

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8. “Kathleen”, Josh Ritter. Kind of like “Dear You”‘s lesser cousin – it has the same epic feel, but it’s quieter, reaches for less. Nevertheless amazing.

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9. “Be Mine”, Robyn. The second this Swedish pop sensation’s throaty vocals kick in on the song’s opening line- “it’s a good thing tears never fall in the pouring rain”, you know you’re in good hands. A thread of bitterness/anger keeps it from sliding over into emo territory.

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10. “Back Broke”, The Swell Season. I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t disappointed overall with their new album, but even so it was hard picking just one song out of it to go on this list. I went with this one because it has the same driving wistfulness and sense of loss and risk as “Low Rising”, but warrants, for some reason, more re-listening.

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Nouvelle Vague is a French new wave musical collective, specializing in bossa nova. I first heard them on the soundtrack for Korean drama Soulmate, which is made up of an absolutely fantastic and completely random assortment of artists from all over the world.

Website

This is Not a Love Song (right-click to download)

Lyrics-

This is not a love song
Happy to have not to have not
Big business is very wise
I’m crossing over into enterprise

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

I’m adaptable, now I like my role
I’m getting better and better
I have a new goal, I’m changing my ways
Where money applies, this is not a love song

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

I’m going over to the over side
I’m happy to have, not to have not
Big business is very wise
I’m inside free enterprise

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

Not television behind the curtain
Out of the cupboard
You take the first train into the big world
Are you ready to grab the candle, not television?

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song