Lights - Siberia Review

Posted by Wyatt E. on 10.08.2011

The second full-length album from Canadian pop starlet Lights proves to be a ton of richly produced synth-pop. A ton.



1. Siberia - 4:21
2. Where The Fence Is Low - 3:26
3. Toes - 3:22
4. Banner - 3:40
5. Everybody Break A Glass - 3:57
6. Heavy Rope - 4:02
7. Timing Is Everything - 3:18
8. Peace Sign - 3:23
9. Cactus In The Valley - 3:26
10 .Suspension - 4:07
11. Flux And Flow - 3:23
12. Fourth Dimension - 3:30
13. And Counting - 4:44
14. Day One - 8:57



Quick note here, as filler because I don't need so many paragraphs to sum up this album as a public service announcement. Since this is an album that's reliant on a heroic dose of electronica to get its cutesy pop sound across, I decided my iHome headphones (ear cup design - anything else is hard on my ears and gives me serious migraines) wouldn't suffice. I went and dug out my old JBL Spyro speakers that I got from a liquidator (and here's Sears to tell you more about them!). Just so you guys know, JBL is my brand of choice for sound in general - good bass, not overwhelming in the high end, and crystal clear sound. I used to have headphones made by them, but they snapped and weren't repairable. It was the saddest day of my life. I played a funeral march and read a eulogy when I dumped those things in the trash. Anyway, trivia aside, this is an album you want some really good sound for.


I hereby renounce my agnosticism.

So, for the Canadians reading this, I shouldn't have to explain who Lights is, since she's been quite a presence in pop music around these parts. Unfortunately, since it's the World Wide Web, here we go anyway. Bearing a Mary Tyler Moore-like smile (seriously, she's adorable) and a whole horde of silly love songs, Lights is a 24 year old musician from Ontario who plays keyboard and guitar, indulges heavily in electro-pop, and must be awfully committed to what she's doing, because she actually did legally change her name to Lights Poxleitner which I have to admit is an oddly awesome name. She describes her own music as "intergalactic-electro," cites Björk as a key influence and called this release, Siberia, her "second child." She's got a little ways to go before she's alternative-rock-chick crazy, but kooky is a good start.

Interestingly enough, Lights is really a capable guitar player, as evidenced by this cover of The Who. It's like how Lady Gaga tends to obscure her chops on piano, or how Ke$ha can legitimately sing without any pitch correctional indulgence. That's kind of weird to see pop starlets doing this now, because, hey, there's no reason we have to listen to electro-pop all the time. That said, Lights is pretty committed to that sound, to the point that she could almost be considered a spiritual counterpart to Owl City (albeit with a much more organic approach). Preferring to be a little more personal with her approach to electro-pop, Lights never goes straight ahead with standard four-to-the-floor beats and synthesizer sounds that are willfully caricature. Instead, she'll smooth out the edges and come up with something a little more rich and subdued. That brings me to Siberia.

First off, this is very well produced. Nothing about the music is thin; it's wound together with a cavernous assortment of electronic moans and groans. The beats hit with a thud, which is only natural for an album influenced by dubstep (the big thing a few months before this album was released), and if this didn't emphasize the "pop" in electro-pop it'd still be a force to be reckoned with as straight dance music. But this is a pop record, through and through, and even as cold and icy as the synths come across, they're all bright and vivid without getting abrasive, and take on a certain hypnosis that tends to suggest an influence from early electronic music (maybe a bit closer to New Order than Kraftwerk).

Despite the obvious commitment to her craft (and why not; she wrote and co-wrote all of these songs) one flaw of the record is that, by current standards of radio, Lights has a bit of a plain voice. She doesn't have exceptional power, or much in the way of distinction other than her own natural girlishness. The songcraft itself is what has to put the record over, which doesn't always work. A common thread is scattered repetition for added impact, which in her defense isn't as cloying as it may sound thanks to good restraint. "Flux And Flow" and "Suspension" - both at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of tempo - are songs that show that she's obviously put too much care into the finished product to let it sink into too much monotony.



The single "Toes" is easily the best song thus far in her young career. Boasting a vocal hook that you'll never get out of your head no matter how hard you try, it's a blissful ode to infatuation that makes for an excellent three-minute radio single. This works pretty well, but the sad truth is that it's a little trickier to pick out highlights as the record progresses. The motif of minor-key love songs with squelchy beats starts to wear a little thin as we move into the second half, and the length of the album - nearly an hour! - tends to obscure the better moments of the album. One song that sticks out is "Cactus In The Valley" which comes across like a tween version of "In The Air Tonight" ...except no loud drum part all of a sudden. With minimal percussion and pitch-correction only used to accentuate some choice lines (lest we forget, auto-tune works very well in small doses) Lights sounds right at home on a ballad. Someone that doesn't sound at home is rapper Shad, whose sudden guest appearances on the album seems like more of a distraction than likely intended.

The 411: As Siberia shows, Lights is a work in progress. There's some good dance beats displayed, and her gift for never overwhelming a song makes for a charming listen. It's just that halfway through the album, it feels like it starts to run out of steam. Too much material is probably preferable to not enough material, but there's a lot of material on Siberia that feels somewhat similar in tone and in texture, which tends to lean on the exhausting side of dance music. Still, a few really good songs and no bad ones makes for an easy album to recommend and an artist to keep your eye on, especially given Lights' enthusiasm for her work.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]