Lights - Little Machines (Deluxe Version) '2014

Tracks list

Tracklist
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01. Portal
02. Running with the Boys
03. Up We Go
04. Same Sea
05. Speeding
06. Muscle Memory
07. Oil and Water
08. Slow Down
09. Meteorites
10. How We Do It
11. Dont Go Home Without Me
12. Child
13. Lucky Ones
14. From All Sides


Canadian singer/songwriter Valerie Poxleitner Bokan (aka Lights) has built a
loyal fan base with her emotive, often poetic electronic pop. On her third
full-length album, 2014s Little Machines, Lights delves even further into a
lyrical, poetic sound with a set of songs consciously written with her audience
in mind. In that sense, Little Machines works as a stylistic juxtaposition from
her equally as melodic, if more aggressive and sonically adventurous 2011 album,
Siberia. With that album, Lights paired with Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh of
Torontos indie electronic ensemble Holy Fuck, to help her expand her musical
palette. The result was a mature, electro-punk affair that proved Lights had
grown beyond the twee, synth-and-folk artist she started out as. That said, she
remained at her core a writer of anthemic, heartfelt songs and Little Machines
finds her embracing this role with a renewed sense of vigor. Also, since
releasing Siberia, Lights married Blessthefall frontman Beau Bokan in 2012, and
a year later, the couple had their first child. All of this informs the album,
adding to the sense that while Siberia may have revealed a more mature sound for
Lights, Little Machines is, in its own way, an album of growth. Furthermore,
with maturity often comes the sense that less is more, and certainly that adage
applies here with Lights pulling back from the frenetic, blown-out layers of
Siberia and focusing her efforts on immediately hummable songs produced with
just the right balance of synth, guitar, and electronic beats. Cuts like Running
with the Boys and Muscle Memory are still very influenced by 80s new wave,
without ever coming off as retro. Similarly, with the exuberant Up We Go, Lights
finds a comfortable niche somewhere in between the dance rock of Paramore and
the anthemic, electronic pop of Ellie Goulding. Ultimately, its Lights
songwriting and her knack for marrying her grand pop inclinations to thoughtful
and relatable real world emotions, as she does on the poignant ode to fidelity
Dont Go Home Without Me, that reveals this little machine has a big heart. ~
Matt Collar

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