Altsounds - Adult Nights - Wild Light [Album]

Formed in sleepy New Hampshire in 2005, indie rock outfit Wild Light already provide quite an impressive musical C.V. The foursome can boast to supporting such established artists as, MGMT, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Arcade Fire and The Killers within recent times.

Their continued success was highlighted yet further after winning the 2008 “Outstanding Rock Act of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards. With anticipation and excitement growing rapidly Wild Light’s debut release ‘Adult Nights’ is set to cause quite a stir.

Wild Light eases into the record with an impressive display of harmonic melodies, accompanied with poetic lyrics and an excellent display of craftsmanship on all instruments. If you’re looking for an example of excellent band cohesion the early impression gathered from Wild Light indicates that you should look no further.

‘Adult Nights’ continues with the easy listening approach with tracks ‘New Hampshire’ and ‘Canyon City’ yet it soon becomes apparent that the full spectrum of guitarist’s Jordan Alexander’s talents is not quite tested, as similar simple cords are heard in both records.

As the album progresses the lack of variety in the songs becomes a real disappointment. Minus the excellent introductions in ‘Surf Generation’ and ‘Call Home’ the records can become difficult to distinguish from one another, with comparable vocal, guitar and drum styles heard across the board.

To their credit Wild Light have created a sound which would suit today’s mainstream radio perfectly. Many of the tracks on ‘Adult Nights’ allow the listener to sing along proudly to records which wouldn’t sound out of place on the typical American teen movie we’ve all become accustomed with over the years.

However, the frustration soon returns with the stop-start approach adopted on ‘The Party (Oh, My God!)’, unfortunately this will have to go down as another track which is neither here nor there. Wild Light does provide a good vocal structure on ‘Lawless River’ but for the umpteenth time the track descends into obscurity.

Wild Light has shown glimpses of great potential to provide a real sound for the imminent arrival of summer. Without doubt, 2009 will prove to be a massive year for the band as they attempt to make a name for themselves.

If you’re happy with a one dimensional, easy listening record then ‘Adult Nights’ is for you. However, don’t expect the band to arrive with a bang and grab the scene by scruff of the neck…just yet anyway.

Track listing:

California on my mind
New Hampshire
Canyon City
Surf Generation
Call Home
Heart Attack
Future Towns
The Party (Oh, My God!)
My Father Was a Horse
Lawless River
New Years Eve
(Surfer’s Reprise)
Red House