Juno winner Lights (that’s her real name) debuts her first album which demonstrates just how good electro pop can be. Its hard to name some bands from Canada that have a massive following, with maybe only two or three names springing to mind. But if you like Owl City or Little Boots, this is the album for you.

The album opens up with the soft sound of synth loops and develops into Lights singing lightly over the top. It’s clear that this is no normal electronic album; the melody combined with vocals begins to hypnotise and wrench the listener into the realm of Lights, a place filled with mythical monsters and space age environments.

It’s not often that an album can make the listener feel so calm, yet be filled with energy. Somehow Lights manages to take the listener on a journey, with songs like ‘Ice’ producing a beat that you cannot help but tap along too. It’s the beat that keeps the album feeling fresh and exciting. It’s the lyrics that tell a story.

Lyrically the album speaks of love, bravery and imagination. As lights begins to sing ‘Lions’ a bizarre mixture of happiness and contentedness begins to bubble inside your mind. More serious songs like ‘Drive My Soul’ demonstrate a more serious side to the young Canadian, bringing with it another depth to the album ‘Quiet’ introduces a medley of strange and exotic sounds that are usually left un-experimented in modern day music. While it may not have the aggressiveness of other electro bands like Innerpartysystem, Lights manages to take electro and use it to charm the listener into fully committing to the space age illusion.

Lights uses an instrument known as a keytar, a hybrid that fuses the sounds of a guitar and a keyboard. This device produces some of the catchy rhythms that are woven through the album. A faint hint of auto tuning is present in some songs which gives the album a more space age feel.

Overall Lights proves that there is room for a more ambient and emotional electro album. It’s simple and honest music that has been produced purely for enjoyment of both artist and listener. Something that is rare in a modern age with a record company calling the shots. Thankfully Lights have been given free roam to produce an album that is sure to be a hit in 2010.

Track list:

1.Saviour
2.Drive My Soul
3.River
4.The Listening
5.Ice
6.Pretend
7.The Last Thing On Your Mind
8.Second Go
9.February Air
10.Face Up
11.Lions!
12.Quiet
13.Pretend (Reprise)

By Ashley Tulett

Being a particularly hard band to genre-pigeon-hole, PABH take influences from Disco, Punk, Hardcore and many other genres. With the announcement of the new album, it brought up a few concerns for me personally. Firstly, they are one of the most energetic bands I’ve ever seen, and their live shows are truly awesome. How would this translate to the polished format of an album?

Well, after my recent chat at Brighton’s Great Escape, they assured me that it would not lose the energy, so lets have a run through of it.

First thing you will notice, is there are many tracks from the previous EPs. All are new recordings, and it’s a great thing as these tracks were too good to leave off. Ones like I Punched A Lion In The Throat are incredibly heavy, with a really catchy opening riff before all hell breaks loose for the rest of the song. New tracks like the opener, Back To The Fuck Yeah are an instant taste of the classic PABH sound; stupidly simple guitar riffs, choruses consisting mainly of one word and more energy than you could want or need. The ‘rough around the edges’ feel is still here, with some tracks ending in coughing, leads falling out of guitars and missed notes here and there. High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive is another great one, going from fairly slow (compared with others) into huge chuggy riff break downs at the end.

The majority of the tracks are previous material, but new numbers like Yeah Buddy bring something new, such as incorporating some singing in the chorus, moving away from the usual shouted vocals that are associated with the band. Moonlit Talons is another instant hit, with huge riffs, intense vocals and big breakdowns before smashing right back into it.

This album is a good mix of new material with old re-recordings of some of the best tracks from the previous EPs, of which there were many. The tracks are often short and sweet, meaning it’s a short and sweet trip while it lasts.

By Mark Allen, Music Editor – Mark@thenewcurrent.com

Following hard on the heels of 2008′s Lie Down In The Light, Beware is Will Oldham’s alter-ego Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s eighth solo album. It is – unsurprisingly – an organic work of great depth and texture. The melody and sense of acute longing that has infused Oldham’s work since his earliest days with Palace is very much present and correct. Beware is an intimate album, full of strong emotion and underlying hope.

Doing what we do (as always seems to be the case) means we get to come across artists who help us understand the real direction music is heading in. With so much ‘new’ music hitting the airwaves very few genuine acts seem to get an equal enough chance at getting what they are doing & saying out there to the wider masses. And then comes Darla Farmer who, along with Emanuel and the Fear & Skint and Demoralised, are helping redefine the boundries of popular music in a way never done before.