LIGHTS is definitely not hard on the eyes! Think Alexandra Lawn from Ra Ra Riot but edgier. She’s not exactly hard on the ears either. Synth heavy female vocals, lightly backed by a drummer, and when I say lightly I mean he could play with one arm half the time. She breaks from her elrctro-pop way mid-way through her set to play a solo acoustic song off her purely acoustic EP, and to do what I guess would be a “cover” of the YouTube video “hide your kids hide your wife,” And then she finishes out the remainder of the set like the beginning.
There’s a part of me that thinks this sort of heavy synth pop music is a sort of gateway to actual electronic music. It’s only a matter of time until one of these kids hear a Deadmau5 song and are making mouse heads of out paper mache and have gloves with LED’s at the finger tips! This though stems from the fact that I think that this style of music serves a purpose of transition. Most people don’t find themselves remaining fans of the genre that LIGHTS is.
The overwhelming age of majority at a LIGHTS show is 16-21. The 16-21 age range is undeniably a market. But I think that most artists want to retain a fan base and grow with it, not just have it be a revolving door of 16-21 year olds. No one wants to be 35 playing to a crowd whose average age is half yours. LIGHTS does seem to have the possibility to grow, and with her EP, appropriately titled Acoustic LIGHTS, makes an admirable run at showing she does more then just look cute behind a Keytar.
From a musical stand point, LIGHTS should be approached with an understanding of her target audience. I would be careful to allude to LIGHTS being at all “technical,” as I think the word you should be looking for is “tangible.” LIGHTS is perfectly tangible, with classic song structure and easy to remember choruses. It’s about all most teenagers are looking for. To be completely honest, I haven’t been a teenager in a long time and it’s all I look for, too. If you even know who Godspeed You Black Emperor are, you should stay far away from LIGHTS; however, if you have no idea who that band is and you happen to be a fan of anything that is or once was on Fueled by Ramen, then I’d highly recommend LIGHTS.
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