‘That we found in our desperate faith/ All we want to be is blown away’
Heat vs. Light takes some big steps toward doing just that with their new release entitled ‘Murderers’. From the the band’s twitter bio : ‘Heat vs. Light are a five piece band from Burnley, Lancashire that play sprawling, melodic guitar music.” I think that really understands the complexity and range of the material that Heat vs. Light create. The nine song album sprawls all over the musical landscape. I found the album to be rather bi-polar. At times it was loud and brash, in the next moment, sombre and melancholy. These peaks and valleys of musical mood occur all over ‘Murderers’. Often within the same song. One example being ‘Tree with a View’ which starts off spartan with just piano and a voice and continues to intensify as many post-rock songs do. The bands vocalist (guitarist, lyricist, keyboardist…) JP Keenan is the soul behind the band’s music. His lyrics are contemplative and require some reflection: “How much , do you hide? / ‘Cause we all hide, in this life” or “and everything explodes beneath us / just as we’d hoped . . . / . . . into dust”. JP conjures some pretty powerful imagery which works well with the expressive and emotional music.
I found the upbeat material on ‘Murderers’ quite compelling, which is the majority of the album. ‘Murderers’ kicks off with a solid jangly rock song entitled ‘There is a Spark’. It leads nicely into the equally well paced songs ‘The Air Tastes of Strange Things’ and ‘Firewall’. One of my favourite tracks is ‘I Love you Donna Ingham + I miss U both loads’ which has some killer riffage courtesy of guitarist Sean Roche. The musicianship is just as impressive on the next track ‘Losing Beats’. Once this track gets going you feel the blaze of Heat vs Light at its blistering best. After such a vigorous track ‘Tree with a View’ seems misplaced and somewhat sluggish even with drummer Steven Lockley diligently driving the beat forward. The melancholy that was obscured deeper in the mix on the first few tracks becomes more prominent on the album after ‘Tree with a View’. It’s echoed on ‘Rabbit’ and ‘Like Stars’. Some listeners may find the gloomy downward spiral charming. I found this musical shadow distracting and unwelcome after the album started so brightly. The album ends with ‘Like Stars’ which showcases the many facets of Heat vs. Light. The song has strong vocals from JP and some rather dissonant chords that build and transform into a melodic and climatic ending with a sombre trumpet lurking in the background.
‘Murderers’ bursts with dynamic atmosphere and a range of emotions. The album soars with raucous post-rock intensity one moment then eases into sombre gray clouds the next. At times ‘Murderers’ feels awkward but the stalls are short lived and overall it’s a compelling, elaborate and rewarding listen. It is emotionally murderous; do check it out.
Released September 3rd through Bandcamp.
Posted by Dave Guzda.
