LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION > Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You.

Updated:

November 13, 2018 5:18 pm

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Videos by American Songwriter

LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION

Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You.

(DOMINO RECORDS)

[Rating: 3 stars]

Determined to outdo his Mike Mogis-produced solo debut as Lightspeed Champion, Devonté Hynes enlisted the psychedelic skills of Ben Allen, who last year produced Animal Collective’s instant classic, Merriweather Post Pavillion. While Mogis lent Falling Off the Lavender Bridge a healthy helping of Omaha-style Americana flavor, Allen’s approach exalted the peculiarities of Hynes’ songwriting with an equally curious and powerful sonic template. Case in point: in “Romart,” he snidely jabs in the songs oddly catchy chorus: “Jot me down in your notebook,” while backed by the massive balladry of spacey guitars and oscillating organs. Hynes has been criticized for such incongruities, but catchy is something that unarguably comes naturally to him; both on the guitar and in melody construction. Whether in the mournful longing of “There’s Nothing Underwater,” or the zany guitar work on “Marlene,” NME’s 20th coolest person in 2008 shows he has song-craft credentials too. However disorienting the ironic marriage between Hynes lyrical content and his music may be, the product of the two provides some continuity to his sometimes piecemeal musical styling. As the surreal approach appears as a theme, the listener is left to contemplate the non-traditional ways Lightspeed Champion celebrates the familiar emotions of a post-modern.