Ex Testicles Member Goes Solo
Alt country takes on a theatrical feel.
Lightspeed Champion
Falling off the Lavender Bridge
Released on Nov 30, -0001
After the demise of Test Icicles, Devonte Hynes started work on his new musical venture, Lightspeed Champion. Falling off the Lavender Bridge is the first full-length effort for Lightspeed Champion and blends elements of alt-country with indie rock for a final product that works quite well with Hynes’ voice. The majority of the tracks feature lyrics that can be pretty depressing, but somewhere in the mixture of laid back drum beats, acoustic guitar, occasional violin and steel guitar you forget about the sometimes cliché lyrics and get lost in pure enjoyment of the music.
The first single on the album, “Galaxy of the Lost,” is a pretty repetitive tune that catches the ear with its first lines. Even though the song follows a simple formula of intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/outro, the structure is one that works. The same thing can be said about just about every other song. Most of them are fairly repetitive musically, if not lyrically.
Vocally, Hynes expresses a variety of emotions from song to song ranging from anger to happiness to longing. His ability to change things up is one of the major reasons that the album works so well.
Structurally, the album is almost theatrical. Its distinct sections function as “acts,” each one beginning slow and methodical and then building to a climax before returning down to a mellow valley at the beginning of the next act. Each climax within the album is slightly greater than the last, building to the final upsurge at the conclusion of the final track, “No Surprise (For Wendela)/Midnight Surprise.” The album ends much as any theatrical production or film would, with a calm conclusion that follows the final climax.
High Point
Low Point
Posted by Cory Roop on Feb 15, 2008 @ 12:00 am