Spotify Wrapped is a digitized summary of your listening on the platform for the year. It told me I had listened to over 3000 artists across 95 genres, including the cheery tones of post-doom metal, with a bit of indie soul as an antidote.

But I don’t know which genre Alastair Leonard’s “Pavlova Dogs” belongs to. His Soundcloud says “indie pop” but to me, that doesn’t paint the whole picture.

You have Gorillaz-style beats and instrumentation. You have post-punk “speak-singing”. There’s a Groove Armada style melody, some Sam Fender-inspired saxophone and a dash of Simon and Garfunkel on valium lyrical delivery (if this particular iteration of Simon and Garfunkel was on valium).

So if I had to go all Spotify and make myself a 96th genre, I’d say it’s post-electro-pop-punk-folk-indie.

Of course, it isn’t, and that’s a good thing.

Leonard has done an excellent job of finding the space between the lines which is often the most interesting.

But why Pavlova Dogs? Assumptions aren’t wise, but that’s what I am going to do.

Leonard is an Australian native. There is an Australian kids’ TV show called Bluey which follows a family of dogs. And more specifically, there is an episode entirely based around pavlova (and edamame beans).

So as long as my assumption is correct, that’s the connection. And it’s ideal because Bluey is packed with humour and lessons for children and parents alike and this song has something for everybody. Stylistically there are lots of fun bits to grab hold of, and lyrically, there are many lines to latch onto.

Strawberry pastry
And a cup of earl grey tea
It’s perfection

So simple. Yet so effective. A line that gives an image but also raises questions on individual ideas of perfection. You might not like the pastry, and you hopefully agree with me that coffee is much better, but it’s a line that makes you think about how you’d approach such a simple situation.

It’s not all simple, though.

I’m writing a record
I’m righting a record
For the first time
In a long time

A turn of phrase that you’d probably miss unless you dig into the lyrics. But it plays on an idea used by Yusuf/Cat Stevens in his classic, Father and Son.

“Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away”

On the podcast Song Exploder, he explains that he isn’t sure whether that last “away” is in fact “a way” – which would drastically change the meaning.

It takes skill to execute such a clever turn of phrase.

Lyrically, this song needs to be strong. Musically it’s all quite chilled, the delivery is not grandiose and when your IG bio says you create “lyric-driven pop” you need to nail every single word. And he does.

He also nails the ending.

Saxophone, multi-layered vocals and a reconstruction of the central motif create a soundscape. Then a basic drum fill and a chunky bass line deliver a definite full stop.

This song has many lovely musical sentences, and that ending is arguably the sweetest of them all.