Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Bright Coloured Lights - Open Your Eyes

(Slumberland, 2000)

My oh my, this fi is lo. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! …Ha? Well it is! And that’s OK, because these three songs are rough mixes of the entire recorded output (1992) of Bright Coloured Lights. BCL consisted of two ex-members of Black Tambourine, plus a few folks from fellow Slumberlanders Lorelei. Perhaps predictably, given the presence of the lead vocalist (Pam Berry) and lead guitarist (Mike Schulman), this record indeed sounds an awful lot like fuzz-faves Black Tambourine: dark poprock with near-icy reverb-heavy girl vox wrapped in driving fuzz guitar, all of it underpinned by a no-frills rhythm section. You know what you’re getting into with this stuff, and if you like that kind of thing, you’re obv gonna love Bright Coloured Lights just fine. Some highlights: The doomy churchbell-style bass blasts giving the top-shelf “Count the Raindrops” a heavier feel than any other BCL or Black Tambourine songs. The vocals. The weird sawing guitar drone in the background of “Open Your Eyes.” Heck, all of the guitarwork on here is excellent. Just drop $3.50 on it and hear for yourself, moneybags.

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