"Friday Night Lights"
In any consideration of Attic Lights it is probably necessary, from the off, to deal with the Teenage Fanclub issue. By which I mean, for those who may not be familiar with the band thus far, both the fact that they are managed and co-produced by sometime Fannies member Francis MacDonald and the fact that they are a Scottish five-piece making gorgeous, harmony-drenched, Beach Boys influenced sunshine pop. Sound familiar? Well they do: very much so.I contend, however, that this is on balance actually an excellent thing. Because what we have here, folks, is probably one of the most lush, soul-stirring, well-crafted and downright beautiful albums that I've heard in many a year.From the moment the opening "ba-bup-ba-bah" vocals come in on ‘Never Get Sick Of The Sea', you get an instant high-velocity sugar-rush, as stalls are well and truly set out with BIG guitars, BIG melody, BIG and beautiful harmonies. The first three tracks, in fact (‘Never Get Sick Of The Sea', ‘Bring You Down' and forthcoming single ‘Wendy') surely take some beating as a stupendous way to start an album. Track four, ‘Dark Eyes', brings things back down with a well-programmed change of pace, with the Scottish accent in the vocal really coming through on this piano-led, contemplative ballad.Great track seems to keep following great track, most of which exhibit an apparent effortlessness that is the sign of something really special. Just one listen-through of this album will give you a head over-stuffed with earworms (for me, ‘Never Get Sick Of The Sea', ‘Wendy', ‘God' and ‘The Dirty Thirst' would all compete for supremacy in my brain each time I heard them), as they seamlessly alternate between lush Californian harmonics (‘Bring You Down', ‘Wendy') and Byrdsian country rockin' (‘Nothing But Love', ‘The Dirty Thirst').I could go on but really - how dull is a record review that just says THIS IS A REALLY REALLY GOOD ALBUM AND I LOVE IT? Suffice to say I have an almost sexual crush on this record - it's beautiful, it lifts the spirits and makes you grin like a loon, it's addictive and it doesn't have a dud track on it. Yum.
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