I remember the first time I heard it. I had driven in to Edinburgh and was sipping on a latte from a small white disposable cup.

I like my men like I like my coffee

Full of soy milk and so sweet it won’t offend anybody whilst staining the pages of the nation

I loved the sound, the lyrics. The band I had listened to in high school were still doing what they loved.

I understand it now more than ever. That loving what you do, that you would do it for years, leads to mastery. Their sound has evolved over the years, because they stuck with it. For over 10 years I think.

Reflecting on my adulthood. Incapable of finding anything I loved. Unable to commit to anything. I had multiple jobs by then, sipping that latte, I was in the job I had for the longest at that point, over a year. Even my relationships, not many of them had stood the test of time. Not the way the sound of the 1975. Consistently high quality, curating what they produced, reflective of the time they created it in.

Full of soy milk and so sweet it won’t offend anybody whilst staining the pages of the nation

Every time I hear it, it reminds of the first time I heard it whilst sipping my own soy latte. My preference has changed since then. I drink my lattes with full fat milk now. I was in Edinburgh then because I was spending lots of time and money getting hair extensions. I’ve gotten ok with my own hair now. Back then, I never really believed love was out there for me. That I would even be capable of connecting with someone. That too has changed.

It's not worse, there’s fewer relationships now, I spend my time doing things that actually bring me a sense of joy and accomplishment. I obsess less over how I look and comparing myself to others.

I always used to bust into her hand
In my, my, my imagination

I was living my best life, living with my parents

So long, Honey - Caamp

No need to complicate it  

I had fallen in love 

With you, so underrated 

Something fillin’ up my lungs  Every color of your love I’ve seen enough I want another  

A distinct voice but the tone is different. Peach fuzz is the happiest I’ve heard them. They sing about being high a lot, which makes sense as to why they were my go to for a while. Moving through the motions in Easter road, in that top floor flat in Edinburgh. The nicest place I had ever lived in.

High as a kite for most of it, hanging out the bedroom window watching the sun go down, surrounded by other tenement flats. It was a nice period, for a while in the summer. I spent the time not working spending my pay in artisan bakeries and in beer gardens with the nice friends I had made.

I would go from house to house. Feeling like I was surrounded by a community I had created. KR said the good times don’t last. And more importantly the bad ones don’t either. You don’t think it at the time, that this period of my life, that I am taking for granted will come to an end. Sooner that I had thought. Planned would be the wrong word. Plan was never really in my vocabulary for the first part of adulthood. It was survival. It was running. Escaping, from what. The nice psychologist tells me it’s shame I’m describing. It’s why I didn’t believe people when they said nice things about me.

Sincerely I tell her, i didn’t plan on being alive right now. An escape plan. Now that I plan to live its equally exciting and dread. To go on the soul search the way I had, left me wanting to die with what I had found. Avoiding it.

And I found out yesterday
That I'm in love

And I don't know what else to say
But thank you, Lord

The song 26. I didn’t listen to much as I had to Vegabond. Now at 26, it sits nicely with me.

This young love
It's got me high

I send it now to him. I wonder if he even listens to them. I think he does. The songs I’m listening to, the ones that remind me of him.

Be good to your mothers
Oh, they did the best they could
And bleed for your brothers
Cause Lord knows that they would

So long, Honey.

It’s like they’re validating the moments in their life, that echo across many lives. They spoke to me then, a carefree 23 year old, recently graduated. Learning to experience the world for the first time. having no idea what was to come. How abruptly my life in Edinburgh would come to an end. And now at 26 severed, gone, every relationship I had in the capital. The city is still as beautiful as ever. Places can stay the same. Even if I’m not.

I put Peach Fuzz back on. It’s speaks to a happier time.