In my music fandom, I have a few clear weaknesses, sounds and conceits before which I am utterly helpless. One of chief bits that gets me almost every time is a song that is about being a song, calling attention to the fact that it’s a song in the lyrics. Nifty meta maneuvering is appreciated in all its forms, but there’s something especially satisfying about it when it clicks into place properly in a rock songs, especially if it has a little bit of a punk edge. Taking the subtextual expression of defiance and making it explicit has a shivery power for me.

“This is a Song,” the new track from Australian duo An Horse, makes the intent plain in the very title, and the lyrics make matters better: “And this is a song/ For all the times you didn’t belong/ And this is a song/ For all the times they got you wrong.” That’s what many of the best punk songs feel like, so why be coy about it? “Say what you mean” is pretty good advice, and it remains just as pertinent when applied to rhyming couplets back up by bruising guitar and crackling drums. Actually, maybe it’s more pertinent.