Lightships: Electric Cables

Lightships
Electric Cables
Domino/Geographic Records [2012]









Fire Note Says: The debut LP from Lightships, Electric Cables begs to be played over and over.

Album Review:
I'm a Gerard Love guy, I always have been. If you were to point a gun to my head and ask me to tell you my favorite Teenage Fanclub song, I would say "I Need Direction", from their 2000 LP Howdy, without hesitation. So when I heard that Love had a new project, Lightships, expectations went thru the room. Love has crafted an album, along with fellow members of Teenage Fanclub (past and present), The Pastels, and Belle and Sebastian, that lives up to the high expectations and often surpasses them.

Electric Cables doesn't sound exactly like you would expect it to on first listen. This doesn't sound like what a Teenage Fanclub album would sound like if Love wrote and sang all of the songs. All of the hallmarks that he brings to the Fanclub table are still there, the great harmonies and melodies, the supple bass lines, but the presentation is different. This is not the Big Star influenced power pop of yesteryear. This is dreamy psychedelic music, often invoking a hazy dreamlike quality. Songs like "Silver And Gold" float along just barely there, dreamlike, until the fuzzed out chorus kicks in. "Girasol" brings to mind the best Byrds influenced country rock of the Howdy era, but adds a flute to up the psychedelia.

The record ends on an extremely high note, closing with perhaps the best track on the album, "Sunlight To The Dawn". This song perfectly sums up everything that the band does best, a slower tempo, a beautiful melody and a psychedelic spiraling guitar line, with a lush bed provided by the bass and flute. It's one you immediately want to hear again, in fact, the entire record begs to be repeated again and again!

Key Tracks: "Sunlight To The Dawn", "Girasol", "Silver And Gold"

Bands With Similar Fire:
Teenage Fanclub
Jonny
Pernice Brothers

Lightships Website
Lightships Facebook
Domino Records

-Reviewed by Kevin Poindexter