Lightspeed Champion
Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
Domino
Bloody January. It's just a slog, isn't it? The country shrugs its shoulders and goes back to work with a resigned collective grumble, coz evyone knows that the weather will be shit, and that nothing good ever really happens in January. Trudge on through and expect very little. And it was with that open minded attitude that I approached my first two reviews of the year.
Knowing nothing whatsoever about Lightspeed Champion, this album came as an unexpected pleasure. The main man at work here is Devonte Hynes - US born and UK raised, his music has been categorised as "Indie Folk" which could go some way to putting off prospective purchasers who only browse by genre.
But Indie Folk it is - and the good thing is that it takes the good bits from both, and of course ends up being something outside of either. The songs appear to be simple at first, but reveal themselves as something more almost straight away. Songs which could have become 3-chord campfire throwaways are rescued with subtly shifting chords and great instrumentation which puts me in mind of Pretzel Logic era Steely Dan. There are some beautifully restrained string arrangements and lovely touches of steel guitar.
Lyrically, Hynes explores dark territories yet delivers his message in an undepressing way, despite the shock of hearing harsh words in the gentle music. The songs keep surprising - starting out straightforward, but often avoiding conventional structure. No regular verse-chorus-verse-chorus stuff here. The track I really loved was Salty Water, in which Hynes creates a rolling backwash tidalwave with his voice as a perfect accompaniment to the lyrics of rapturous drowning. Personally, I think this music is at its best when Hynes lets go a bit with his voice - sometimes the flat-wovelled estuary drawl veers a little too close to Billy Bragg for my ears, but there's so much more to like about this record that this is easily forgotten. It's not just a collection of songs, it's a real album...and an artist to watch out for.
Links
Lightspeed Champion
Myspace
Domino
Tags
21st Jan 2008 - Tumblr
3.5