Special delivery from Japan is this collection of post rock without the baggage, or My Bloody Valentine without the headache. In Light is a shimmering collection of mostly instrumental tracks, occasionally accompanied by an ethereal female voice floating through their aural sphere, culminating in the sonic equivalent of a brain massage.

It’s not background or chill-out music though; those labels denote music made for people who find Coldplay ‘a bit edgy’. In Light has an impact, albeit a soft one and it sends out a tingle and a touch that’s sensory and soothing. Clattering beats judder like a slow motion pillow fight and glistening guitars swirl with heavenly electronics toward the sky, but it never gets boring due to clever self censorship, keeping the tracks short and sweet.

There are a million groups who ply their trade in MOR electro-acoustica but Small Color don’t pedal the usual chill out music, a genre that should have the sensible listener shaking their stereo and shouting “FOR CHRIST’S SAKE – DO SOMETHING!” By the time the Moog-flecked album closer ‘Lemmy’ drifts in, it’s clear Small Color are one of the few bands to tread this path and instead of provoking violence, they provoke smiles.

-T

Tags: in light, small color
Posted in Reviews