Association! is the lead-off track on the stunning new International Airport album, Reunion Of Island Goose. Immediately we thought it should be a single, and that people would want to join in with this association without rules, a rule book or leaders. They’ve got a good song though, and when we started to think of it as a single, rather than abstracting out into the world of remixes, we invited the kings of song, Teenage Fanclub to play it straight with a simple cover version. Teenage Fanclub are just back from Chicago where they’ve completed a new album with John McEntire, who also mixed International Airport. Members from both groups play in The Pastels, so there’s a familiarity with the form and style of the Airport’s avant pop. Teenage Fanclub’s cut is a little harder with more focus on the groove, with soul handclaps and a great cutting guitar sound. It sounds close to some of The Beatles 1966 / 67 out-takes with double-tracked drums, and a ‘come by and play on it’, community vibe. Mostly it sounds like Teenage Fanclub of course, but it sounds like Teenage Fanclub moving towards a new sound once again full of possibilities. The instrumental cut is also really fantastic. Finally, Airport leader, Tom Crossley, imagining both versions running together, decided to make a mash, where they do run together, one in each channel, and bringing the subtle clang of the original into a somehow more physical space. Everyone’s singing ‘I’m part of the association!’.