We weren't the only ones to mention the '50s element to Gold Light's music, with 2013's debut album drawing comparisons to Roy Orbison (and if you're going to write a heartbreak album, there's probably nobody better to channel). Songs like 'True Love Never Dies' made doo-wop sound elegantly wasted but lovelorn and tattered with it. New album 'Visions' (released on March 11th through Hearts & Plugs) builds on this, incorporating post-punk (especially on 'Rosebush' and the excellent 'Grey Eyes', where the shadows of Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure loom large) and modern day Americana, while lyrically life's big questions are tackled, bringing confusion and heartache of a different kind.
That may seem a bit heavy and depressing, but the end result is quite different. Take single 'Arm's Length' for example. It may hint at some kind of existential crisis, of laying awake at night as you "try to find some meaning", in a world where it seems "that God is a place just outta reach", but these moments can often come with an epiphany of some kind, and the realisation that "there's beauty in being". A gently shuffling beat and the eerie effects of reverb mean that 'Arm's Length' is filtered through the gauze of dreampop and has a richness of sound that compliments the unhurried delivery. Guitars seem to float and hover in the background, bringing themselves to the fore when needed, and making the whole song feel effortless and natural rather than rigidly constructed in any way. 'Arm's Length' is beautifully shimmering and haunted, and given that it's not alone in harbouring such qualities, 'Visions' could be the sound of a band on the cusp of a breakthrough.
Gold Light's website
The Sound Of Confusion on Twitter and Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment