“Battle For The Sun is an album that is the direct flipside of "Meds.” Anyone who follows Placebo religiously will have heard this quote in some form or another over the past six months. If there is one song on this album that encapsulates that statement, it is the new single; ‘Bright Lights.’ No doubt about it. Written on an isolated boat somewhere in France, it is surprisingly the most positive song by Placebo to date.

The track starts off with some optimistic drums and the synthesizer soon shines through, beaming through any pauses in the vocals and often accompanying Molko’s voice as a soft and playful background twinkle. The synthesizer gives the whole track an ethereal and celestial feel, sometimes reminding us of the flickering of stars and other times reminiscent of the grandeur of Times Square by night. Not to be too poetic or anything.

The main vocals resonate a new outlook on life and highlight a hope and eagerness for change, which is after all, the album's main theme. The backing vocals which were added to the single for release and cannot be found on the original album version may not be particularly imaginative, but contribute to the overall feel of the track and add an extra shine / polish. It is fair to say that "bright lights in black holes" is one of the catchiest aspects of the song and you will soon find yourself repeating it, much to the incredible annoyance of those around you.

Lyrically, it is obvious that this song was intended to be about stepping into the light and turning your life around after the realization that it is not what you want it to be. Admittedly, it lacks a little in this area and where lines like ‘a heart that hurts, is a heart that works’ didn’t use to bother me at all, they now border on cliché. But I wholeheartedly embrace the message of the song and after all, big emotions don’t come from big words. There are some simple but meaningful lyrics in there, it just depends how pedantic you’re feeling.

Overall a very promising track that, unfortunately, I predict many will dismiss as not being "Placebo" enough for their liking. It may be the most mainstream track on the album but it can certainly stand proudly amongst many of the other Placebo singles of the past few years. And as for live, well, it’s just a killer. But then again, Placebo have always outdone their albums on stage...