Critical Praise for Lightouts:
"Gowanus duo Lightouts resurrect the melancholy chug and darkly sexy swagger of bands like The Cure, Girls Against Boys, JAMC and Afghan Whigs and impolitely jam it into the drum machine crunch of contemporary locals like Sleigh Bells, Year Of The Tiger and the Death Set."
- Chris Weingarten, The Village Voice
"I require precisely no convincing that Lightouts are brilliant, but if you're in any doubt then by all means check out their new single, 'The Cure For Shyness.'"
- Listen Before You Buy "Best New Release"
- Indie Rock Cafe
The Song:
What happens when you mix an Is This It? -era Strokes verse with an anthemic Arcade Fire chorus and channel it all through The Shins? You get "Stray Boy," the latest tune from Brooklyn's Lightouts. The boys from Gowanus are back with the b-side to The Big Picture maxi-sinlge, out on 6/26.
The track was premiered yesterday by Filter, who had this to say: "Displaying their influences of The Cure and Guided By Voices proudly in their track, 'Stray Boy,' Greg Nelson and Gavin Rhodes deliver an upbeat song that's fit for a windows down, slow driving summer day. " While the deceptively slow intro may make you want to drive slowly at first, when the fast, punky, verse kicks in we think you'll be punching it into overdrive.
For more information on Lightouts please contact Gavin or Marissa at Audible Treats.
The
Background:
Lightouts founder Gavin Rhodes started with a simple question: "Robert Smith/Emily Haines, where are you?" But this appeal to fans of The Cure and Metric didn't appear on Craigslist or in The Village Voice. The flyer was posted near the less-than-picturesque Gowanus Canal. Greg Nelson, a veteran of the NYC music scene, responded to the ad and the rest, as they say, is history. The pair exhibit a rare musical and stylistic cohesion: structured bass lines, waves of fuzzed out guitars and vaporous vocals put a new spin on the moody post-punk aesthetic of bands like Joy Division and Smashing Pumpkins circa Siamese Dream. A loosely linked concept album – Want, a meditation on what it means to follow our instincts – is in the works and in the months leading up to the unveiling of the album, the Gowanus duo is set to release a series of singles. With a tip of the hat to an analogue era in the not-so-distant past, each single will feature both an A-side and two B-sides allowing the band to offer up songs complemented by experimentation into deep-cut covers.
