Courtesy of  Balcony TV

I invited my best friend from back home over the other day to sip peppermint tea and use Crayola‰’s finest to color in elaborate Christmas scenes printed from some suburban mom‰’s “Adult Coloring Pages‰” Pinterest board. At some point in the afternoon, we found ourselves in a discussion about the little things we subconsciously associate with each other and, as if every single detail of the scene I just described doesn‰’t paint a clear enough picture of who I am, my dear friend informed me that the Alabama Shakes and I are inseparably entwined within her mind. To this, I couldn‰’t help but respond, “accurate.‰Û

I have been an avid Alabama Shakes fan since I saw them open for rock god Jack White way back in 2012 when their debut album was released. From that moment forward, just about every experience, emotion, challenge, or joy I faced was perfectly accompanied by one of their soulful and vivacious songs. Everything I faced, that is, except one: the heart-wrenching, blood-boiling, tear-jerking torture of unrequited love. It wouldn‰’t be until the band‰’s 2015 release of Sound & Color that I would find solace in the whirlwind of a track “Gimme All Your Love.‰Û

The song starts with a few lively pops of guitar and drums then immediately slows into a blues guitar rhythm kept in time with a reserved drum beat. The soft croon of Brittany Howard‰’s otherworldly voice enters in above this composed genius, and the love saga begins. Howard sounds angelic and sweet as she asks her sweetheart for some time to sit and talk but then, like the flip of a switch, the line “tell me, what‰’s wrong?‰” changes everything.

Suddenly the guitars crunch and vibrate with angst, the drums let go of their reluctance and pound like 15-year-old‰’s heart when she‰’s assigned to sit next to her crush in precalc, and Howard‰’s voice blares with the soul-crushing yearning that 15-year-old will pen into her journal at the end of yet another day devoid of romance. “Gimme all your love,‰” Howard pleads on behalf of all the broken hearted “Gimme all you got, babe.‰Û

But, suddenly, it‰’s the next morning and the journal gets shoved back under the bed and we clean ourselves up to try to charm the apple of our eye in class. The coy drum beat starts back up to bring balance to the sly guitar and Howard‰’s flirtatious vocals. We‰’ve all been here before, though. We may be taking another stab at winning him over, but we know the cyclical nature of this kind of crush. The hypothetical school bell rings and Howard crashes into our hearts with another round of “Gimme all your loooooooooove!‰Û

You see, while a tidy four minutes and three seconds long, “Gimme All Your Love,‰” could easily be eternally looped with no indication of an ending ever being reached. It is the musical embodiment of romance that will only ever exist in the dreams of the infatuated. Not too long ago, it would have been the song I wallowed to in bed after a long day of staring dreamy-eyed at my tall, tan, and symmetrically-featured crush from the back of English class. Now, disillusioned by one too many mediocre Starbucks dates, it‰’s a reminder of how painful it is not to have a heart encased in stone. Most of all, though, it‰’s a pretty exquisite track.