"Big Love" is the history of great songs that may have been. That the song is a cobbling-together of several strident melodic ideas is underscored by its spliced backing track. The unlikely partners of folk guitars and spacey synths are married by the coolest beat on Spirit If..., an insistent snare-fest that glides from live kit to sample and back again. It's undeniable in part because it's so loud. In a song so fragmented that the mix makes or breaks it, I tip my hat to the engineer for keeping the train on the tracks.

Still, this thing spills out of all its seams, with anthemic choirs bubbling to the surface one moment and cloistered lap-pop emerging the next. Spirit If... is already long, and "Big Love" is the last-minute medley of everything that didn't make the cut. It's indulgent, and embarrassing, and it pisses me off that I like it so much.

A microcosm of Drew's whole record, the song succeeds not because of disciplined composition, but because each colour thrown at the canvas is so vibrant. Each hook is so sharp, each tone is so winning that even after the song ends and starts again, just to throw a fat synth groove in my ear, I'm still down. It's endlessly listenable, and my only complaint is that it should've been seven great songs instead of one shining mess.

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