If there may be an infantilism to the title of nascent Arkansas duo joan’s latest, i loved you first, then Alan Thomas and Steven Rutherford conversely demonstrate a maturity beyond their years across the course of the ensuing 227 seconds which the song occupies. Because, evocative of Sean Nicholas Savage’s wistful lo-fi (if fed through a higher-end hi-fi), this is – and is quite incontrovertibly – majestic songsmithery, celestial keys, throwback drum tracks and searing guitar solos lending a magical tenor that would be in no way out of place on the, erm, Magic Radio playlist. Lyrically, it’s a case of your borderline Shakespearian (and thereby unrequited) love story (“You keep runnin’ away when I need you most/ Runnin’ away when I get too close/ My heart is full, but yours is running out,” and so on and so forth), although no matter how many times the emotional arc of this one may have been traced before in song form, joan looks set to become a name memorable as that of la Pucelle.
First Transmission: joan, i loved you first.
