This week has been stuffed with outdated indie discourse about whether or not or not Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros’ 2009 hit “Dwelling” is the worst tune of all time. A clip of the group’s Tiny Desk efficiency has been recirculating on X with many robust opinions about “Dwelling,” the “stomp clap” period, and whether or not “Dwelling” is “stomp clap.” Now bandleader Alex Ebert (who additionally fronted the dance-rock group Ima Robotic earlier than Edward Sharpe) has weighed in.
“Right here’s how you realize when a tune is sweet,” Ebert begins the video saying, persevering with:
If the bones are good, if the bones let the tune survive context, when you pull it out of acoustic guitar, you set a piano there and it really works, it’s tune. You pull it out of the piano, you set it on the harp, it’s nonetheless working, you’re taking out of the harp, you sing it a capella, it’s nonetheless working, good tune.
Now “Dwelling” has been lined a number of instances, various things. A few of them are hits, like precise hit songs. Some man takes it from baritone places it in falsetto, you realize, the one which went viral. Edith Whiskers, shoutout to no matter that’s, that went viral. By the way in which we have been the primary to do the stomp and clap fuckin’ people pop factor to the purpose the place the Lumineers, they sought out one among our co-producers — he wasn’t truly our co-producer — and have been like, “Hey, try this Edward Sharpe factor for us.” For actual, that’s an actual story. Of Monsters & Males, they bought our album earlier than they ever made an album as a result of our agent was their supervisor and she or he confirmed it to them they usually principally bought so near “Dwelling” that we nearly sued them. They have been doing Apple commercials and I used to be getting calls saying, “Congratulations.” That’s how intently individuals began doing this.
And by the way in which, “Dwelling” isn’t recording, it’s only a good tune. However it not being recording is what I really like about “Dwelling.” It’s like a second. We recorded it on tape, we didn’t even know tips on how to report on tape, it sounds prefer it’s made in some muffled storage. I needed to unfold the porous happenstance incidentalism of Edward Sharpe. As an alternative what I unfold was stomp claps taken and recorded higher, and that’s miserable. However “Dwelling” is seemingly tune.
Within the caption, he added:
It’s a query I’ve requested myself lots — is dwelling tune? One thing I forgot to say is I just lately was requested by my 90-year-old father to play dwelling at his birthday. He was begging as if his life relied on it so I needed to oblige. There was a piano within the restaurant so I simply performed it like that, entire chords, simply me on the piano in a restaurant at midday. I’ll try to discover a recording of it, nevertheless it became nearly my favourite model of the tune. In actual fact I hold pondering perhaps I ought to launch a model of it. Anyway, that’s once I made up my thoughts that Dwelling, the bones of it not less than, are nice. It’s tune.
Properly, onto the following discourse.
— Father John Misty (@fatherjohnmisty) August 6, 2025
it’s worse
— Father John Misty (@fatherjohnmisty) August 6, 2025
