Anxious adults of all ages have surged on supermarkets in search of the sweet clementine, after the mindful mutterings of a popular relaxation app were surreptitiously replaced by the searing sounds of early krautrock band Can. In some parts of the world the rush has even caused a shortage of the Mediterranean citrus.
It all started when a 40-minute mindfulness meditation track on the app Relax – which has been downloaded more than two million times across 130 different countries, in the process making its reclusive creator a multi-millionaire – was somehow replaced by the whole of Ege Bamyası, the fourth album by Can, known for their hypnotic sound which seemed to encompass everything from folk and funk to avant-garde under the broad umbrella of experimental rock.
As listeners began to doze, expecting the usual dulcet tones of a docile narrator, many seem to have inhabited a sort of half-slumber despite the improvised yelping of Can’s then-lead singer Damo Suzuki. And the song ‘Vitamin C’ evidently managed to penetrate their still-receptive ears.
‘Hey you!’, Suzuki in the song’s refrain begins, ‘You’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing, your vitamin C!’. It’s a direct message, and one which clearly resonated with health-conscious fans of the application. Within 24-hours of the error, sales of the clementine had soared by more than 70%.
That it is the humble clementine which has become the target of Relax listeners remains one of those peculiarities of life susceptible to neither rhyme nor reason. The clementine is rich in vitamin C, containing 48.8 milligrams of the stuff for every 100 grams of clementines. But there is nothing in the words of Can’s song or in Suzuki’s idiosyncratic intonation which would necessarily lull people towards the clementine ahead of other citruses.
