Softpretty

When we were leaving the conference and saying our goodbyes in the hotel lobby, he suggested making a playlist of songs that ‘had touched us somehow’. I felt embarrassed turning this farewell into a major event, but I also didn’t want to miss an opportunity to touch him. I sent a link to ‘All My Friends’ by the synth rock band LCD Soundsystem. Famously, LCD Soundsystem announced that they were disbanding in 2011 and played a huge and histrionic farewell concert at Madison Square Garden. Just four years later they released a new album and began touring again. I thought the retracted goodbye was manipulative, but I couldn’t help loving the new music. He later told me that the track I sent was selfishly long, that it had completely ruined the playlist.