His His, the recording project of Toronto‘s Aidan Belo, has carved a niche in the world of indie pop using quavering guitar and a soft, delicate vocal delivery. Following previous single ‘Underdogs’ (a song about gentrification we described as “a picture of incremental loss which worsens on every visit, the past slowly changed by multi-millionaires, tree by tree, brick by brick”), Belo is back with a new His His single, ‘Ford Econoline’.
The track this time focuses on Belo’s experience as a musician, a diary-like account of his time on tour in the eponymous van. “I wrote this song after being on tour with my band for nearly a month in my Ford Econoline,” he describes. “The lyrics were inspired from journal entries that I wrote in the backseat of the van. About missing loved ones and feeling the effects of being on the road, sleeping on couches and run-down motels, and being in a different, strange city every day.”
The signature guitar work is once again present, supported with gently ramshackle percussion and a warm, wistful tape-recorded ambience. It captures the feeling of quiet yearning perfectly, like the sensation of returning home in your mind as you cruise down an unfamiliar stretch of highway in some faraway city.