Middle Kids recommend the best song you’ve never heard
To let other people in on your favourite lesser-known songs can be a delicate task. While there’s a desire for the whole world to hear the sonic masterpieces that somehow make their way into every playlist you make, there’s also an inclination to protect those obscure compositions, to keep them close, to preserve their beauty. Fortunately for Middle Kids fans, the band have committed themselves to the former and revealed their pick for the best track you’ve never heard.
Perhaps expectedly, the Aussie indie rock band shared a song choice from close to home, both geographically and genre-wise. The band named ‘Exactly How You Are’ by Brisbane-born Ball Park Music as their pick. “Ball Park Music are the singalong anthem heroes of Australia,” they enthused, “They have a huge cult following here who will go to multiple shows.”
“They’ve always written songs that feel like Australia,” they continued to explain, “They should be bigger than they are. Does that make them our Grateful Dead? Is Sam Cromack our Jerry Garcia? It’s a pretty lazy comparison, but let’s go with that.” It might be a lazy comparison, but it’s also a major compliment.
With over 17 million streams to its name on Spotify, ‘Exactly How You Are’ may seem like an odd choice, but Middle Kids are extremely specific about the version of the track they’d like to recommend. There’s a live performance Ball Park Music gave at Sydney’s Horden Pavilion in 2022, and it’s this one that Middle Kids crown as the best song you’ve never heard.
It’s a version of the track that really illustrates the cult following Middle Kids had amassed, with screams from the crowd ensuing from the track’s opening moments. “This song was one of their big hits in Australia a few years ago, but this live version is special because you can hear what the song means to the crowd,” they explained.
“It’s a beautiful song,” they concluded, “Have a listen for probably the most Australian opening lyric to a song.” Delivered with a chorus of audience members’ voices in tandem, it’s an opening line with shrugged expletives that certainly live up to the band’s claim, though they might not be suitable for repetition.
Faith Crisis Pt 1, the third studio album from Middle Kids, is out now. Listen to ‘Exactly How You Are (triple j Live at the Wireless)’ by Ball Park Music below.
