Lightheaded – Combustible Gems (2024) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Lightheaded – Combustible Gems (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 24:09 minutes | 482 MB | Genre: Pop Rock, Jangle Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Slumberland Records LLC

New Jersey’s Lightheaded are clearly students of pop in all of its variety, drawing as much from 60s Brill Building song writers as they do from later 60s folk/pop developments and 80s DIY pop. The striking thing is how seamlessly they’re able to meld these influences, and the distinctive voice that they’ve crafted this early in their career. Their new album “Combustible Gems” follows-up their well-regarded “Good Good Great!” EP in fine fashion, striking all the right Phil Spector/Goffin & King chords while rooting the album firmly in the NOW. Singles like “Moments Notice” and “Bright Happy Girls” possess a timeless pop charm, brimming with jangle, drama and infectious energy.If you can judge a band by the company they keep, it says a lot that, in June 2024, Lightheaded will be opening for Heavenly’s first US gig in over 30 years. The British twee-pop legends’ influence on the Long Branch, NJ, band is clear on songs like gauzy “Hugging Horizons” and sunshiny, sleigh-bell-laden “Still Sitting Sunday” from their latest album, Combustible Gems. But the record is also inspired by the Softies’ cuddlecore and the Feelies’ feel-good jangle, as well as Scottish pop—Orange Juice’s art-school take on soul and the Pastels’ C86 anorak pop. With a great hook, “Always Sideways” comes on like a softer, cozier, less angular Altered Images—more shoegaze than New Wave. It’s the perfect support system for bassist/singer Cynthia Rickenbach’s lightly droll vocals. Beaming with swooning strings, “Because of You” is teen-idol dreamy and highlights how Rickenbach sometimes sounds like home-state hero Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo. Rickenbach has said she was trying to imitate her favorite French yé-yé singers on “Dawn Hush Lullaby,” a jangling folk-pop track song that gets its name from 20th-century poet Wilfred J. Funk’s list of the 10 most beautiful words in the English language (“dawn,” “hush” and “lullaby” are the first three) and rhythm guitarist/co-writer Stephen Stec applying them to describe the voice of a long-distance love. It’s groovy, rich and resonant. The band re-recorded their old track “Moments Notice” (also available on the 2019 mixtape Cowboys and Constellations); as nice as it would have been to hear another new song from them, this one was worth revisiting and introducing to a new audience—especially with the addition of lead guitarist Sara Abdlebarry on Gretsch. It’s as boppy as ever, led by great guitar and bass lines, as well as splashy drums. Garage rocker “Bright Happy Girls” is like Lightheaded covering Guided By Voices aping the Byrds, and it’s a treat. And wide-open “You and Your Mother” is just plain fun: sock-hop rhythm, greaser guitar swagger and Rickenbach floating coolly above the chaos. – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

1-01. Lightheaded – Always Sideways (03:27)
1-02. Lightheaded – Dawn Hush Lullaby (02:57)
1-03. Lightheaded – Moments Notice (02:50)
1-04. Lightheaded – Still Sitting Sunday (02:46)
1-05. Lightheaded – Bright Happy Girls (02:35)
1-06. Lightheaded – Hugging Horizons (03:25)
1-07. Lightheaded – You and Your Mother (02:52)
1-08. Lightheaded – Because of You (03:14)

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