Attic Lights
Friday Night Lights (Island Records)
Chiming guitars, four part harmonies, huge pop choruses, lyrics about sunshine and drinking… Albums like this are surely supposed to be released in the summer, so that they can be blasted out at barbeques and festivals. Not in October when we’re all indoors wearing cardigans, with the heating cranked all the way up. Given the fact that Scotland really only has one season these days (’grey’?) I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much. Clocking in at a brisk 34 minutes, Friday Night Lights is a sunny blast of Teenage Fanclub flavoured pop; each track containing more hooks than some bands can squeeze into an entire album. In particular, ‘Bring You Down’ and ‘Wendy’ will bounce around your head long after you’ve taken the CD out of the player. Despite the fact that the bulk of the album is gloriously upbeat, the two standout tracks are both ballads - ‘Send Your Dark Eyes My Way’ and ‘Winter On’ - which really showcase both the band’s harmonies and, in the latter, the string arrangements by Björn Yttling (from Peter, Björn and John). You won’t find anything here that will blow you away in terms of innovation or originality, but there’s an infectious enthusiasm about the ten songs here which leaps out of the speakers and makes it hard not to love them. If nothing else, you can close your eyes while you listen and pretend that we actually had a summer this year.
Brian Sherry
