In the fall of 1996 I joined KXLU 88.9 FM radio station, which transmitted from Loyola Marymount University, where I attended at the time.  I was a certified hip-hop kid who only knew KROQ rock as rock.  Nonetheless, I was hired and told to just go for it.  I had help in discovering new music through this mountain of bands I had never heard of, save for Sonic Youth who had “Diamond Sea” on the radio at the time.  A DJ at the station named Jimmy Tamborello had one of the best shows.  We quickly became friends and he made me a mix tape, which back then was actually on cassette!  This tape became my introduction to the rock I still love, which came to be labeled shoe gaze by the emo kids at the station.  Whatever.  I love this slow-and-somber-echo-laden-usually-female-vocal sort of stuff.  This song is a definite highlight of that tape.  I was fortunate to come across this 45 while working at Fingerprints in Long Beach.  Enjoy. 

Oh and the band!  Bernthøler is a Belgian avant garde pop band that was active from 1981 to 1985 featuring the core of Drita Kotaji (vocals), Simon Rigot (guitar, keyboard, sax) along with Manuel Poutte (keyboards, guitar), Pol Fourmois (bass) and Pierre Sorvil (drums).  My Suitor, featuring the lovely vocals of Drita, became a staple of John Peel’s BBC show and became a minor hit for them in 1983 much to their surprise.  Despite the promise, the band called it quits.  LTM recordings released their complete recordings as Merry Lines in the Sky in 2004.