Places and Dates
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Places and dates escape me. Such is my fate, I cannot remember the where and even less the when. Where have I been all this time? When was the last time I saw you? And what matters most: the first time or the last?
Is this the first time I eclipsed myself or is it the last instance of my escapology? Only memory will tell.
Until the day I write my anamnesis, here is something I will listen tomorrow at dawn, with my gaze fixed on my thoughts...
Notes: Lights are a New York based quartet, not to mistake with the nymphette from Toronto. "Lights" their eponymous debut album released through the label Twisted Nerve can be purchased on Kicktrack.com (digital download) More sounds from Lights over here.
A few echoes regarding the opus:
"...Led by bewitching female harmonies from Sophia Knapp and Linnea Vedder, these songs of symbolic wounds and sylvan mysticism suggest a soothing, meditative, Middle Ages psychedelia. The otherworldly vocals are deployed not over lute and crumhorn but across distorted electric guitar and the drum sound of a medieval Mo Tucker. Despite the stylised design and surface vogueishness, the overall effect is distinctive, unselfconscious, and delightful. As Tucker's colleague Lou Reed once asked, "Is this the beginning of a new age?" Maybe it is? The new Dark Ages."
-The Word
"Lights may look like a bunch of New York fashionista chumps fresh from a Vogue board meeting circa 1986 but don't let that put you off. This is a genuinely other-worldly pop music. Take some eerie, archaic female vocal harmonies, graft upon slow jam Velvet Underground minimalist/Neanderthal rhythms, adda sprinkling of spindly, sinewy, liquid guitar goodness and you're arrived in the sophisticated pop utopia Lights reside in. High water mark has to be 'Rise Up', a swoonsome, lovelorn piece of organ driven beauty. Lights are a soft-focus delight indeed."
-Flux
"The eeriness of the sopranic, soporific, swishing, Kate-Bush-ish harmonies of Lights' twin lead voaclists is irresistible in the same way that sailors are drawn to their ecstatic doom onto the rocks by the sirens. This is the dissolute tonic that stretches at the corners of consciousness halfway between dream and destiny."
-Plan B
Comments (18)
How the flock did I miss this? The track is sweet but you could have posted anything, as long as you're back "full time" as it were.
>>>>OK, the track is more than passable....glorious in the headphones....but you're distracting me from my message.....prolonged absences are frowned upon by we professional frowners.
I'm not sure you can call mine a full time return but I'll try to keep up. (It's hard to go through the days without one's fix of his Bobness.)
I felt a slight drag, but that might be a reflection of my mood. A band to investigate, though. Thanks.
Thanks for popping in, Klyde. What can I say? Happy music does not move me like melancholy melodies...
Different moves in different grooves are great as one mood doesn't forever suit any dude? Yeah, I HAVE had a few sleepless nights of late. Oh well.
Glad to hear from you Mr.B. You've been missed.
I like the track, the guitar and the melody, but the higher notes of the feminine duo rub my musical nerves the wrong way, the way a high pitched violin does. I love the cello but I hate the violin.
Nice to hear from the scrivener, sir. It's been too long.
Good to see you back. And a very nice tune, actually the sort of thing I needed around 2 in the morning, so thank you for foreseeing my mood when reading this!
welcome back good sir
levek: how anyone could hate the violin bewilders me, but to each his own...
I think the whole song is hauntingly beautiful, perfect for a frosty winter twilight.
Michael, there is a void in musings on the myriad contrasts to happiness and contentment when you're not Mogging. does that make sense? beautiful song. symbolic wounds and eerie Kate-Bush-ish harmonies indeed.
"And what matters most: the first time or the last?" in a full circle, it is one and the same, no? great to hear from you. (;
The Scrivner returns and most brilliantly, at that.
haha i was secretly hoping it was the chick from canada... wee crush. and by crush i mean i think shes hot. but this works!
Picking up that VU vibe, and that is an accomplishment in itself, to say nothing of the seasonality of those frosty images/warming voices. You've switched the "lights" back on, home for the holidays as they say.
"what matters most: the first time or the last?" you and your silly riddles...why it's this time, of course!
Hi, Michael. Welcome back {e}home :)
I'm not often a sucker for such sweet voices, but this song really got to me. It has a plaintive quality that I haven't heard since The Sundays lead singer. What's her name? Harriet Wheeler, I think. In any case, it was so nice to hear something new, and the fact it came from you was even more exciting. Now that you're back, I think I'll stick around for a while, too. Missed you, B. -C
Levek: Merci de ton accueil. I'm glad you enjoyed the track. I'm sure the music that you are will like the eerie violin, though it's nocello ;)
Dachmo: Ta! Nice to see a familiar.
SA: Hei Stefan. I'm glad the track serendipitously suited your moods.
Madrid: Hello Sir. It's good to see your spacestation is still on orbit.
Honeydoll: If I dared, I'd call you "Hun" :p
Poe: Your compliments are so much better turned than my mediocre words. I'm indebted to you, O Poe-tess of MOG.
Cody B: The scrivener thanks you kindly, good sir.
Sam: Well, look who it is! Some other lights, of course.
Scot: You enlighten much more than I do you. Thank you, the Riddler.
Anna: Merci mademoiselle. It's nice to see you.
Cee: "Now that you're back, I think I'll stick around for a while, too" O, the pressure of keeping you on MOG. But then again, you're more than L'Oreal: you're truly worth it. (Missed you too)
Welcome back, Michael!
"Places and dates escape me. Such is my fate, I cannot remember the where and even less the when" Where have I been all this time? When was the last time I saw you? And what matters most: the first time or the last?"
I must remember these words for the next time I arrive home pissed. Excellent excuse.