There is something unexplainable weaving its way through the sparse lyrics and striking music of Ben Kweller’s “Thirteen”.

Ben, speculated to be sippin’ on Cammy-Cam juice, the beverage of champions

This gently-sung ballad describes a thing so tender that listening feels almost like an intrusion. With only a piano and no chorus, stark three-line verses tap into the mesmerizing way that young love transforms the world. Kweller glorifies the magnificent and the mundane.

We questioned religions
Fed bread to the pigeons
We learned how to pray

Lurking behind the wonder, though, is a keen awareness of fragility. You can fully sense the weight of his past experience hanging on every word. Adventures, passion, worship, danger and desolation, fierce affection, sincerity. Listening to “Thirteen”, you catch a glimpse of something real and rare. This is a song to fall in love to.

Sounds like: Drinking water from farm wells, skipping town, back doors and wood floors, learning how to pray