Toronto – “Every singer has a unique style,” my friend, an accomplished musician, once told me. “A good singer tries not to deviate from that style. Think about it: a person with a ‘bluesy’ voice won’t make good heavy metal music and a person with a childish voice won’t have range or depth to do soul.”
He raises a good point.
Consider Avril Lavigne, a singer whose poppy voice and kid-friendly lyrics make her version of “rock” offensive to anyone over the age of twelve. The same can be said for someone like Lady Gaga who, despite her undeniable singing abilities, is not the second coming of Annie Lennox. While Lennox took risks with her music Gaga has not, opting instead to make Top 40 pop. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – the world needs all kinds. The problem though, is when an artist attempts to embrace a genre of music without truly understanding it.
Enter LIGHTS, the self-proclaimed purveyor of “intergalactic electro music”.
Saviour, the latest e.p. from LIGHTS, is nothing more than a re-hash of the mom-friendly candy-coated pop tunes that propelled the Toronto native to fame. It’s not that Saviour is bad per se – multi-layered tracks, high production quality and good use of sampling are indicative of LIGHTS’ abilities as a songwriter and a composer. I am, however, bothered by the fact that her music is being classified as “indie electro and synth pop”.
While LIGHTS can hold a note, her music is missing the experimental edge that can be found in the indie stylings of synth pop artists like The Postal Service and Passion Pit. Saviour doesn’t bring anything new to the table and while the songs are composed well, they tend to grate on the nerves. LIGHTS should be chided for her overuse of autotune and cliché lyrics reminiscent of a Rick Astley song (“It won’t ever change if you want it to stay the same/I really hate it but I know it’s hard to choose if you’re chained/ … I just wanna run to you/and break off the chains/ … I need a saviour”).
That being said, there is a demographic for this brand of watered-down electro. LIGHTS did, after all, received top honours for her accomplishments at the Canadian Juno awards earlier this year and her Myspace page is a hub of activity, having received nearly 10 million hits. Saviour will be a hit with pre-teen emos – kids who have outgrown Miley but are too young to appreciate artists like Little Boots.
Everyone else though, should probably take a pass.
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[...] Music Review: LIGHTS – Saviour EP [2009, Underground Operations] Toronto – “Every singer has a unique style,” my friend, an accomplished musician, once told me. “A good singer tries not to deviate from that style. Think about it: a person with a ‘bluesy’ voice won’t make good heavy metal music and a person with a childish voice won’t have range or depth to do soul.” He raises a good point. Consider Avril Lavigne, a singer whose poppy voice and kid-friendly lyrics make her version of “rock” offensive to anyone over the age of twelve. The same can be sai [...]