The Lighthouse – Whatever Comes Our Way

By RingMaster Review on January 29, 2020 • ( 0 )

Photo – BAARD Photography

Hailing from the indie pop landscape of Belgium, The Lighthouse describes their music as offering “Songs that feel like Fridays.” We cannot say we exactly understand what they mean by that description but if they suggest it comes with a kind of smile loaded freedom that is felt from escaping the demands of an insatiable working life for most on the close of that particular day than we can only agree. The band recently released their debut album, Whatever Comes Our Way, a collection of songs which more so echo the bright and cheery feeling you get as another summery day breaks upon the senses; each uniting in a collective warmth and infectiousness which just makes you want to get up and sway, dance, and enjoy the day.

There is not a great deal we can tell you about The Lighthouse except that through their sound, songs, and live shows they have been gaining greater and thicker attention across Belgium and the Netherlands as well as further afield earning over 2 Million streams on Spotify on the way. As revealed within Whatever Comes Our Way their sound has a lively mellowness which arouses the senses and a boisterous spirit which gets into feet with ease. There is a certainly coincidental resemblance to the music of US band Paper Jackets, each creating a liberating catchiness and warmth in indie pop orientated sounds unafraid to embrace electronic and various other essences though there the similarities for the most stop.

Whatever Comes Our Way immediately hugs ears with opener Cover Story, the keys of Willem Schellekens an instant caress to which the firm and boisterous beats of drummer Bastiaan Jonniaux and the resonating lure of Yannick H’Madoun’s bass add keen temptation. Simultaneously the guitars of Bram Knockaert and Nick Socquet cast a blend of ear clipping bait and melodic enticing as the combined vocals of Schellekens and Knockaert gather with polyphonic prowess. It all makes for a rousing and striking encounter and a mix which provides the template for the album and its host of boldly individual songs.

Catch Fire is the second temptation on the record, its gait more relaxed and swing less urgent but a track which easily had hips swaying to and ears firmly attentive in its organic catchiness and melodic seduction before the following School’s Out shared its eighties synth pop appreciation and spirited pop instincts. As those before it and indeed those to come the song almost teases with its hooks and rhythms before springing a chorus which is impossible to ignore and rather hard not to participate in.

Next up Tel Aviv is the same, its movement infectious and melodic tempting pretty much irresistible while just leading to another rousing chorus which tested the soprano in us but not the eagerness to try before the two parts of Redwing stepped forward to epitomise the variety and depth of the band’s writing. From its atmospheric opening Pt. 1 blossomed into a predominately electro pop instrumental which hinted at bands such as Ladytron and Bastille before a coaxing of vocals gathers as the track evolves into Pt. 2, it too a thickly atmospheric serenade woven on a reflective tapestry of almost haunting musical and vocal melody.

Pretty Classy is another which revels in the rich almost dense atmospheric side of the band’s sound and its broad adventure whilst relishing the contagious nature of their instinctive touch while Something In The Air equally crafts it’s tempting in that natural catchiness while blending it a more forceful dynamic which again had the body bouncing.

Across the similarly manipulative and buoyant Hear Me Out and the bubbly Vitamin K with its animated energy and enterprise there was no denying the contagious urging of the band, Easygoing backing up their persistence through it’s less vigorous but certainly no less fertile twilight lit stroll.

The album is completed by the seductive serenade of Tundra, a song bountiful in melodic suggestion and creative adventure as it weaves a landscape as rich as that its title suggests. It is a potent end to an album which radiates sunshine and feel-good spirit as well as prime cut pop songs; it all together a pleasure to raise the spirit in a dark world.

Whatever Comes Our Way is out now.

http://thelighthousesound.com https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseSound/ https://twitter.com/TLHsound