2000 Great Songs #1247: Sucker

I'll never understand why Chicago singer-songwriter Kevin Tihista's run of 2000s records didn't get a little more love. I mean, ok, maybe crediting the records to Kevin Tihista's Red Terror was ill-advised, suggesting content a little at odds with the laid-back, semi-acoustic folk-pop within. His 2001 full-length debut, Don't Breathe A Word, is particularly solid, an ample helping of tracks that owe some debt to Elliott Smith with some Bacharach-esque pop touches, not far afield from the Pernice Brothers, all very pretty and emotionally rich. Hard for me to say I have a favorite song, but I'm picking "Sucker" just because it's especially lovely, ethereal vocals that really draw you in, like some great lost Brian Wilson sketch sprinkled with post-90s angst.

Electrified alternative version: