Whatchumagenre

I’ve had many, many opportunities to discover Dev Hynes. For about a year now, the name “Lightspeed Champion” has been flashing across my radar from friends and magazines, but I never paid attention to any of it (due mostly in part to my own laziness). Finally, I broke down to the pressure. I just had to see what this “Lightspeed Champion” was all about. And boy am I glad I did! The above title sums up the aftermath pretty well.

Do you remember the short lived Test Icicles, of which Dev was member? A lot of hype surrounded the band, but I just couldn’t see it. Neither could Dev, and thankfully for us, Hynes’ new moniker has taken a different direction for 2007. Lightspeed Champion—evidently, the name comes from a series of comic strips he did as a teenager in his school math books—is a radically different sound to Hynes’ previous band. In fact, he’s ditched his bright pink guitar and searing riffs for a new acoustic, folk-pop approach. Backing vocals on many songs were provided by (but not limited to) Emmy the Great and Florence (of Florence and the Machine). The result was Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, which was released on January 21st of this year.

I could cover two pages writing about why I love each individual song, but I’ll try and limit it to a paragraph. First up we have “Midnight Surprise”. This was the song that started it for me, and for being just shy of ten minutes long, it says a lot that I never lost interest in it (on first listen, mind you). That’s even without with the video, which is a must see by the way. And after listening to that, it feels like his other songs are too short, even at the typical three minutes. Emmy the Great proved to be just the icing on the cake on “Tell Me What It’s Worth” which is credited with 20 listens in 3 days. Hell yeah! And the B-side “Waiting Game” never should’ve been a B-side in the first place. “Galaxy of the Lost”, though not his greatest work, is much better than most songs coming out these days. Anyway, to prevent my needless rambling, if you were going to buy only one new album this year, consider Lightspeed Champion’s, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge as a contender.

MP3: “Tell Me What It’s Worth” – Lightspeed Champion
MP3: “Waiting Game” – Lightspeed Champion
Video: “Midnight Surprise” – Lightspeed Champion