Okay, first off let’s deal with the giant environmental elephant in the room.

Not to ruin the ending, but something happens in We Found a Lovebird’s otherwise lovely “Sent On a Boat” that will horrify David Suzuki, Greta Thunberg, and the ghost of Rachel Carson.

As much as we’d all like to believe otherwise, helium-filled balloons don’t end up drifting by Nana’s cloud in heaven when released from this mortal coil. When you let go of the shiny decorative ribbon they do almost as much environmental damage as the last four years of McDonald Cheeto Messiah Trump.

Sometimes they end up floating back to earth and landing in our oceans, where they are mistaken for jellyfish and other delicacies by turtles, whales, dolphins, birds, and David Hasselhoff.

Others, they touch down on power lines, go up in flames, and cause massive power outages, which totally sucks when you’re in the middle of a particularly intense Red Dead Redemption session.

Birds become tangled up in the attached strings and ribbons, and pristine beaches from Bora Bora to Brandsø have been littered with balloons emblazoned with Happy Birthday Old Fart! and Happy Fucking Whatever!

And no, biodegradable latex or mylar aren't the answers.

Alright, with that grimness out of the way, let’s focus on the positives.

Past Polaris Prize nominees We Found a Lovebird have been labelled as fine purveyors of dream pop, which is usually completely accurate.

With “Sent On a Boat” the quartet lights out for more rootsy territory, in the process—whether intentionally or not—invoking the Flying Burrito Brothers, Velvet Underground, and Long Ryders at their most paisley-dipped. 

With the days now long and dark in these parts, the video for “Sent On a Boat” offers a much-needed injection of cinematic sunshine. Grim as things have often been in 2020, it will do your heart good to see folks standing in a sun-dappled field, pensive at first, and then bursting with unbridled and infectious joy right before the end credits roll.

“Sent On a Boat” is the first of a series of singles to be released in coming months, the master plan including a full-length vinyl compilation for 2021.

Watch below, and try not to think about where those goddamn balloons ended up. Just because Al Gore is horrified and weeping somewhere doesn't mean that you have to be.