Wave Machines – Keep The Lights On

This new single from Wave Machines annoys me, it really does. It seems to be an exercise in “how much can I make a song sound like it’s from an 80’s soundtrack?!” and the answer is, quite a lot, the song just isn’t very good.

The vocals are a serious reminder of Scissor Sisters, never a good thing in my mind, though this might be purely because it’s a high male vocal, and I automatically think Scissor Sisters when I hear it.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh; there’s a nice transition from a lower register downbeat male vocal to the falsetto, and some nice little synth lines, but mostly, I bloody hate this thing, I just can’t think when I’d listen to it.  Let me explain: when I hear music, I tend to link it to a time I’d listen to it, be it driving on a sunny day, drinking too much in a club or angrily travelling on public transport. This track just doesn’t bring anything to mind, maybe I need an experience just for this song, but I don’t think I’m likely to go to any 1980s American high school proms, just a hunch there.

I mean, it’s all put together very well, the vintage synth sounds are competent, there are some nice rhythmic muted guitars and even the vocals are in tune, in time and suit the song, I just don’t feel like the song is doing anything new, I’ve heard it all before on 80s teen movie soundtracks.

So if you’re planning on throwing a themed event, where everyone has to wear 1980s prom dresses and powder blue or pink tuxes, and you need an uptempo number to keep things going because the punch hasn’t been spiked yet, throw this Wave Machines track on, or buy the soundtrack from a movie like Pretty In Pink.