‘All We’ve Ever Known’ – Light You Up
Release Date: January 26th 2015
Record Label: Reclaim Music Group/Ice Grills
Review By: Matt Henson
When people start to talk about the ‘hot new thing’ in music, you’d normally be remiss to direct your eyes towards Birmingham, however 2015 is going to start shaking some of these core beliefs. With the release of their début album “All We’ve Ever Known”, Light You Up are carving their way out of the Midlands and into the increasingly populated elite of bands who are successfully making a name for themselves on the UK scene.
With Neck Deep cementing themselves as the poster boys for home grown success, Light You Up are not far behind already boasting some impressive achievements. The first of which is being part of this springs hottest label tour, hitting the road this March with Four Year Strong, Hit The Lights and I call Fives when Pure Noise Records showcases their roster in the UK. Alan Day from FYS also contributes guest vocals on their new record and A Loss For Words, Matty Aresnault has taken to managing the boys too. The name dropping doesn’t end their, the new record was produced by Sam Pura who has recently been working with State Champs, The Story So Far and Man Overboard and was mixed by Romesh Dodengoda who has put his name to records by Lower Than Atlantis, Decade and Funeral For A Friend, so it’s no wonder the “All We’ve Ever Known” is already turning a few heads.
The record had been in production for two years, and the it feels like that time was spent honing some sort of alchemy for a sound so rich in melody that each track has a familiarity to it that it’s almost comforting. This may also have something to do with vocalist Tom Napier, who’s voice seems to have evolved out of John Rzeznick’s from The Goo Goo Dolls, but with a soulful bass. To anyone who has seen Light You Up play live, his range seems to exceed most of his peers in the genre.
The songs themselves seem to reflect the care and passion which drives the album. There’s a lot of inexperienced wisdom that presents its self as musical maturity and finds a balance that makes this an album about growing up without the angry and whiney narcissism that many artists in this genre fall into. Lyrically, the subject matter takes you across the expected realms of pursuing your dreams, getting over shitty relationships and growing up and won’t win any points for originality, however the heart behind the songs adds a layer of sincerity that makes the most tiered subject matter enjoyable and relatable. The acoustic track “You A re Waiting For A Train” was written about a sequence in the movie Inception, showing that the band are willing to write conceptually thus expanding the possibilities for future song writing.
This isn’t a straight up pop punk album, but it’s a healthy derivative for the UK scene.
Comparably you may group it with Deaf Havana’s “Fools and Worthless Liars” and We Are The Ocean’s incarnation without their screamer. There’s certainly the more ‘pop punk’ tracks like Foxfire and It’s About Time (who classically mention listening to Jimmy Eat World) but the album as a whole is a far more mature attempt at the genre, and it’s reception has shown that this was a successful attempt too.
The UK scene is moving from strength to strength and artists like Light You Up are going to prove to be a pivotal part of this. The album has enough presence about it to forge its own identity for the band and the show the versatilely of the UK scene. If anything it’s a great advertisement to go watch to boys on the Pure Noise label tour this spring and show the industry what else they’re capable of…and if the record is anything to go by, we should all be proud of the lads and get excited about the future.
You purchase the new album here: https://itun.es/gb/P4cn4
