The Lodger – Life Is Sweet
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Leeds band The Lodger released this album in May of this year, but Life Is Sweet has been taking its time to get completely acquainted with those of us on American soil. Surely you will find tragedy in that, for this record is precisely the type of album that made British music a mainstay in U.S. college radio throughout the 90s.
This album opens up with “My Finest Hour,” which is a piano-laden song, gently sweeping along. It floats somewhere in the world of Belle and Sebastian until the chorus brings in pounding piano and a quickened pace with the vocals.
Moments later you’re treated to the best song on the album, not that the rest aren’t here for your enjoyment. It’s a foot-stomper of a song, with guitar work similar to that of Franz Ferdinand, but with a more pop-driven vocal. “The Good Old Days” is sure to get you moving, no matter what your into. It’s the perfect blend of upbeat indie rock and modern pop music.
The more you listen to the album, the more the infectious melodies lodge themselves inside your brain. It’s similar to the first time you threw on a Smiths LP or even Orange Juice. It isn’t anything that will go down as the most creative music of all time, but it’s the fact that the band has honed their skills to perfection; they get the most potential out of every single song on the album.
You could drop the name of pretty much every seminal Brit-pop band from the early eighties on when describing this band, but despite their shared commonalities with their influences, The Lodger is able to go beyond those same sounds; they create a sound entirely their own. Surely this deserves our notice over here in the United States, as we can only hope that we get more guitar-pop from our distant cousins rather than the same re-hashed dance music time and time again.