Top 10 Songs of 2011: #1 Typhoon - The Honest Truth 

I really do just love this song. The Oregon-based band sounds a bit like debut album-Fanfarlo or Arcade Fire if you saw them in a tiny venue. One voice, a bunch of instruments, some plaintive lyrics.

If that's all this song was, it'd probably still make my top 10.

But that's not all there is. It's the little touches.

The quiet voices that start the song before the guitar kicks in.
The horns coming in and making the whole thing seem bigger.
How simple the song seems with the guitar and drum beat and horns all echoing the simple, repetitive lyrics.
How wrong you are to think the song is simple, as it opens up both vocally and sonically.
How the entire song is preamble to the last 90 seconds.
The first female backing vocal just tipping the bands hand.
The chorus.

The final minute of this song is one of the most wondrous minutes of music in the past few years. There's no way you don't hear this song and smile. And what more can you ask for from a little bit of music?

Amazon's little 30 second preview doesn't do this song justice, so here's a live version from Letterman. You'll get goosebumps.