Lightspeed Champion : 'Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You'
Released: Out Now
Label: Domino
Everyone loves a bit of pretension now and then, as Dev Hynes knows only too well. Yet striking a balance has always been a notoriously tricky business, and not one that the offbeat dandy has so far managed to quite master. Whilst follow up album Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You shows flashes of trademark brilliance, frequent unfocused forays rob it of much needed impetus.
Early on the album is much of the typical Lightspeed Champion that we all know and love. “Dead Head Blues” is a simple opener, swaggering with understated beauty to a rousing finish without breaking sweat. Similarly, “There's Nothing Underwater” sees Hynes at his understated best, a gentle melody supporting a whispered vocal performance.
Yet delve further in and worrying signs emerge. “Intermission” and “Intermission 2” offer little but a few minutes bland instrumental to an already bulging track list, whilst “Etude Op. 3 'Goodnight Michalek'” is a somewhat unnecessary baroque instrumental that oozes unwanted pretension. At fifteen tracks, these three curiosities would certainly not be missed, even without their misplaced grandeur.
“Faculty Of Fears” also proves a curious choice. “She was born on a Monday night/In my head. for my eyes/In the theorem of Pythagorus.” No doubt an attempt at quirkiness, these lyrics translate simply as wordy nonsense unworthy of Hynes. Add to this the rather hollow single “Marlene” and it is hard not to feel somewhat disheartened and confused by such limp efforts.
Yet there is just enough promise to avoid these fears being fully realised. “Sweetheart” proves to be a stomping effort in true Lightspeed form, building slowly to a swelling symphonic end. Likewise “The Big Guns Of Highsmith” combines some glorious piano playing with Hynes renowned story telling ability, the perfect antidote to some shaken faith.
Hynes very nearly pulls defeat from the jaws of victory. Were it not for a few crucial tracks, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You could easily be a tale of what might have been. As it stands, it proves to be a clash of identities in motion, a battle of pretension and substance that only just provides the right outcome. In every sense the “difficult second album.”
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Reply #1 on : Sat March 13, 2010, 03:10:59