If - like me - you've previously tended to subscribe to the theory of pop songs being largely inspired by cars and girls (check out career highlights of Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry and Neil Young to start and go from there), then you might well get a surprise if you encounter Australian quartet's HER NAME IN LIGHTS' new album.
Because said album "Into The Light Again" is very much a break-up album inspired by cars and BOYS. Well, one boy especially, and the low-down dog went and broke HNIL singer/ songwriter Mary Wyer's heart, the cad! Actually, not only did he do that, but he left his old car in the street outside Mary's house, leaving it to remind her of the heartache for six months before the council finally towed it away. To vent some much needed spleen, Mary sprayed "You know I really loved that boy" on said motor before they got around to shifting it.
So - sniff - the ingredients are there for a classic weepie and an album full of bitterness, regret, heartbreak and despair. And, lest we forget, these have been among the ingredients adding up to brilliant wrist-slitters such as Lou Reed's "Berlin", Big Star's "Third/ Sister Lovers" and the Red House Painters' monolithic second album. Y'know, the one with the old rollercoaster on the cover.
So, while you're obviously sad for Mary's state of mind, you're inwardly egging "Into The Light Again" on to be a magnificent wallow-fest and for her heartbreak to be translated into the sort of monolithic record that will decimate you for years to come.
Well, you're heading for a fall, I'm afraid, for the reality is some way removed. Not that "Into The Light Again" is a bad record, but it's a pretty lightweight, breezy pop affair and the gentle, understated (dare we say throwaway?) qualities of the playing aren't enough to convey the gravitas of the emotional bloodletting Mary was forced into during the difficult period of her life she deals with here.
There are a number of problems that immediately strike you. For one, Mary clearly hasn't moved on from her time in fey, Sarah Records' stalwarts Even As We Speak, and much of "Into The Light Again" sounds mired in the kind of twee, C86-ish sounds that blighted indie in the mid to late '80s. Indeed, songs like "Dream" and "Headstrong" are pleasant enough, but far too inconsequential to ever take root in your brain, while "Mess" - apparently the sound of Mary beginning to get over it - is terminally incapable of being spotted in a crowd. C'mon girl: he's destroyed you! Maybe you shouldn't go so far as torching his flat or stabbing his new girlfriend, but at least sound like you wanna do more than take up cross-stitching as a retort. Let's have some unbridled passion at least.
|
There again, neither the undernourished production or the band's contributions are a great help in lifting things to any exalted height. Tracks like "Waiting" and "Key" (parts 1& 2)" are so lo-fi they're bordering on the anaemic, while I'm buggered if I can find any point in including the quirky, acoustic cover of (oh yes) Mousse T's "Sex Bomb" in these surroundings. Answers on a postcard, please.
Yet, despite these (sometimes self-inflicted) weals and wounds, "Into The Light" also harbours some moments of subtle beauty and understated class. Guitarist Almond Cafarella's "Here She Comes" is the source of the album's title and appears to be about picking yourself up and moving on. It's a lovelorn, breezy beauty too and improves considerably with additional plays. "You Know I Really Loved That Boy" revisits Mary's cars and boys dilemma ("Take your guitar from by our bed/ Remove our song from my head /Had enough of damage") and sounds sad, damning and defiant all at once, while "Wicked Girl" finally finds HNIL threatening to rock. Alison Galloway's drums make their presence felt, Simon Holmes's bass switches to rhino-fart mode, the guitars revel in some dirt and the whole thing swings and shakes. More of this would indeed have been welcome.
A late run including some decent tracks like "Against The Blue" also ensure you don't go away with a nasty taste in your mouth, but mostly "Into The Light Again" is simply too damn polite and timid to really make an impression in the long-term. Understatement's all well and good, but it's more a case of Mary Wyer hiding her light under a bushel rather than having Her Name In Lights at present.
|
