Lights - Little Machines (2014)
When this dropped in 2014, I was incredibly excited! I even went as far as to post some stupid shit to Facebook like "New Lights album.. Must be my birthday :)" but then I proceeded to listen to this album exactly one fucking time and tucked it away on my computer somewhere. I don't know why I did that: I liked the album, I did, but I guess part of me was just like "aight, that's enough entertainment for me" and tossed it aside like grocery stores toss aside one-day-expired meat without even considering the idea of donating it to a homeless shelter. Sorry, but that's FUCKED UP! That is NOT GUCCI! YEAH! DO YOUR PART!! Aaah, good shit, good shit. You know what else is good shit? THIS FUCKING ALBUM! It'll have you doing the FANDANGO with your heroin dealer in pure euphoria that can only come from "Running With the Boys" while running from the cops for selling illegal drugs to teenagers! Fuck those killjoys!!
Okay, but seriously, though: This is a great pop album. Sure, it's not as challenging and adventurous as "Siberia", but it's not quite as entry-level "take it at face-value" as "The Listening" either: The beats on here are very new-wave-tinged for the most part, but Lights still layers that shit with multiple layers of stuff like hectic drums, guitars drenched in reverb, etc, and Lights sounds.. Different. I've been told that she recorded this album while pregnant, and had to learn how to sing from her diaphragm, but there are some points on this album where it sounds like she's close to shrieking ("Up We Go", while an excellent tune, is a good example of this), almost as if the microphone is hooked up to the ceiling, and she's trying to record vocals with her head pointed up at it, trying to be captured via said microphone. I like it, I think it can add a certain level of excitement that previous Lights songs didn't really reach, but fret not: She still sings quite beautifully on this album, like the angel she truly is. Great shit.
I only have one (minor, not even close to being big) problem with this album, really, and it comes down to the fact that coming after "Siberia", this is a kinda restrained album for -her-, I guess. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of moments of her musical genius shining through, and a lot of memorable tracks, but coming after the previous album, you'd probably think that she'd continue down that route, making a more challenging album, which, sure, she didn't have to do, and I actually applaud her for being able to change her sound with every release, but can you imagine if we had gotten an even noisier album out of her, that pushed the envelope on what she can do? It'd be interesting! Anyhow, I really do love this album, and I think that it's probably the most mainstream sounding out of all of her albums, which can be a bit weird to hear (especially with the occasional moment where she sounds like Katy Perry.. Always VERY briefly, but still), but you can still tell that this album is exactly how Lights wanted it to be, and she's STILL doing shit her own way. If this was 2008, I'd say "LIKE A BOSS" but I'm not a cringeworthy older relative on Facebook.. So imagine I said something around those lines.
LIKE A CANADIAN POPSTAR THAT'S ACTUALLY A LOT MORE RESPECTABLE AND ARTISTICALLY CREATIVE THAN MOST POPSTARS, DUE TO HER WRITING, COMPOSING, AND PRODUCING THE MAJORITY OF HER MUSIC!!
YEAH!!! FUCKING NAILED IT!!!
8/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
