We don’t really listen to music these days. Instead, we merely consume it, like an ill-advised sprint up and down the buffet line, filling our plates with disjointed playlists and TikTok soundbites that ultimately leave us unfulfilled and aching. But every now and then a song hits and it gives us pause, mimicking a long-gone ritual of sliding a record out of its sleeve, carefully placing it on the turntable, hitting play and dropping the needle before falling back into the abyss of your favorite chair. “Shimmer In Your Eye,” the commanding new single and instant 2024 SOTY contender from Occasional Dreams, has given us the kind of sensation that slows the world down, if only for five minutes. We don’t know what the song is about; we don’t have an artist quote to elaborate on its theme; and we hadn’t heard of this Liverpool band until a few, now seemingly distant, moments ago. All we know is that music can still captivate, and in rare moments like these, remind us what it’s like truly listen to a euphoric burst of artistic expression.