Usually it’s sad songs, not happy songs, that you listen to when you’re blue. Listening to sorrowful music is cathartic, and you usually feel better when you can immerse yourself in the obvious pain and ache of a band like Joy Division and wallow into your ice cream. In that state, happy music can seem like an affront. But somehow, listening to singer-songwriter Jake Troth’s uplifting synths and smooth vocals manages to raise spirits as well. “Everybody Loves You” is a sad song disguised as something slightly happier. Against the backdrop of thundering drums that echo Phil Collins-era Genesis, the LA-based North Carolina product Troth singing “Everybody loves you, and everybody loves you” kind of manages to lift your mood in the way Ian Curtis never really could. Troth’s lyrics are melancholy, too, but sung in a way that hints at a light at the end of a dark tunnel: “I hope your heart finds another to hold on/ Because lord knows mine don’t stand up right on its own.” The result is an endearing pop track, quiet heartbreak hidden between optimistic instrumentation.

“Everybody Loves You” is out on Troth’s own Kakalak label.