Daily Download: “A Happy Medium,” Malcolm Middleton

This song, from Arab Strap guitarist Malcolm Middleton’s latest solo album, “Into the Woods,” is an extreme example of the happy music/sad words song. The juxtaposition is so extreme — dippy major key melody, sprightly guitars, cheerful drumbeat and Middleton singing, over and over, “Woke up again today/ Realized I hate myself/ My face is a disease” — that instead of being bittersweet it reads as blackest comedy, especially when a throbbing bass drum kicks in near the end and it becomes a surprisingly irresistible dance track.