2000 Great Songs #1260: Suicide Will Make You Happy
Mazarin were a Philadelphia-based indie project that released three albums at the turn of the millennium. Largely the work of musician Quentin Stoltzfus, the band drank from the same well as the various Elephant 6 bands who had taken root a few years prior--experimental pop songs which ranged from ambient drones to pretty pop-rock to more energized psychedelia. I got really into 2001's sophomore LP A Tall-Tale Storyline , a wondrously varied record which felt like it was carrying the Neutral Milk Hotel torch after that band called it a day. "Suicide Will Make You Happy" is, downbeat title aside, an infectious, jangly pop song off that album, perky and propulsive and melodic, a modest little number which stayed with me after the band itself had moved on (Stoltzfus returned after several years off with a new project called Light Heat). BTW, you can find the record here ; check it out.
