Review of the Bigger Lights Fiction Fever

The Bigger Lights are next in the long line of bands who seem to have pop-punk at their core, but have found studio shine, a hip aesthetic, and internet culture to help pad their product. The guitar tones sound nearly computerized and the haircuts look sculpted. It would be entirely easy to write them off with the pack of bands that followed in the footsteps of groups like Blink-182 or, more recently, Fall Out Boy, but the one thing this group has that can't be denied is a knack for melody. So, if you can ignore the sort of record label prep work that has obviously gone into this band's sound and look, you can find some pretty good songs underneath.

"Closer" may be the best example of this band' strange dichotomy. Right off the bat the song seems too pumped full of synth lines meant to entice fans of Motion City Soundtrack when the guitars alone could have transmitted the caffeinated energy. The verse is a pop lover's dream, but the added guitars (covered in echoey effects) distract a bit. The chorus is a break out meant for sing-a-longs, and well it covers that ground well. Again the melodies on this song are fantastic, but you can't help wonder how it would have sounded minus some of the faded whoa oh backing vocals and beefy layers. After all this band is a three-piece, so where is all this instrumentation coming from? The drums hint at a band that knows how to rock out, so give them a chance to instead of drowning them in studio magic.

"Goldmine Valentine" suffers from similar problems. The song is a piano-led bouncer that sounds like the group's best attempt at crafting a My Chemical Romance punk-opera. Again the chorus is the type that will get stuck in your head, but the song just feels too produced, too artificial.

"Apocalypse" brings back the pop-punk with a galloping drum beat and speedy guitars, but the polish is near blinding. The band know how to write a song, but the packaging just doesn't seem like the best choice for them. The latest in studio magic can seem appealing because of its price tag, but often it results in robotic-like products that are merely crafted to fit in with their contemporaries on rock radio. The Bigger Lights have the skills, now they just need to show them off in a more appropriate manner.