Critical Praise for Lightouts:
Named one of SPIN's 2012 CMJ "Next Big Things"
"Definitely a band to look out for, Lightouts have the potential to be massive."
- The Music Ninja
"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
The News & Video:
After two years of musical incubation in Brooklyn's Gowanus canal, fuzz-rockers Lightouts are pleased to announce the long awaited release of their debut album, Want, on March 5th. Featuring thirteen guitar-heavy songs, the album is a reflection of the musical journey the band has undergone since its inception. At times anthemic, raucous, and plaintive, Want is the perfect encapsulation of Lightouts development into a formidable indie rock band. In conjunction with the release news, SPIN debuted the video for the album's lead track, "Not Today." The video features dreamy cloud footage the band collected while flying over the past two years.
In 2011, Lightouts came into being through a want ad posted near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The flyer posed a simple question: "Robert Smith/Emily Haines, where are you?" While Mr. Smith nor Ms. Haines answered, singer Greg Nelson did, and he and guitarist Gavin Rhodes coalesced to form the nucleus of the band. Originally performing as a duo with a drum machine, the group is now a bona fide power quartet, with Nelson and Rhodes on guitars, Dean Perry on bass, and Josh Fleischmann on drums.
While Want is the band's debut album, they've been quite busy during the last two years. They released a series of five critically lauded maxi-singles; They've played CMJ twice, the inaugural CBGB Festival, and will be playing their second SXSW in March; Their music has been synced by the likes of Nissan, Quicksilver, American Eagle Outfitters, and many more; They beat Ladytron in Zippo's Battle of the Bands; They were selected to play Adrian Grenier's Wreckroom.tv and Converse's Rubber Tracks. Obviously, Lightouts has been hard at work building up to this moment. "This was always our plan," remarks guitarist Rhodes. "We wanted our debut album to come after we'd established ourselves as a band that made music that was worth listening to."
 Want is a loosely-linked concept album- a meditation on what it means to follow our instincts. "While our sound has definitely evolved since we started writing two years ago, the lyrical themes for the songs on this album remained consistent. My lyric-writing process is really visceral and themes like moving forward versus living in the past or the idea of trying to control different forms of desire kept welling up naturally and inspired the lyrics for this record. The refrain from the title track 'Want' sums it up: 'Teach me how / Not to want anything / Leave me now / I do not want to want anything,'" explains Nelson.
The album features the stunning artwork of fellow Gowanus denizen George Boorujy, an internationally renowned painter, whose artwork also graces the covers of Lightouts' first four singles. The thirteen songs were coproduced between Andy Altmann and the band. Varying from the sparse instrumentation of album opener "Not Today" to the sky-scraping choruses of "See Clear," to the sophisticated arrangement of title track "Want," Lightouts showcase their ability to make modern indie rock that's not afraid to get loud, yet still retains a pop sensibility. Oh yeah, and they do guitar solos too. Remember when indie rock did those?
Watch "Not Today" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgQMlBo3tTke
SPIN premiered the video: http://www.spin.com/articles/lightouts-brooklyn-not-today-want-premiere
For more information on Lightouts please contact Michelle or Gavin 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 group 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. In the past two years, the Gowanus band has released a series of singles that featured both an A-side and two B-sides, which allowed the band to offer up songs complemented by experimentation and deep-cut covers.The band's debut album, Want, will be released on March 5th, 2013
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