Devonte Hynes--Lightspeed Champion--Purple Reign???

Wabbit Season--Please Don't Reload

I think that Lightspeed Champion/Devonte Hynes is one of the most talented new voices in music today. This album is such an idiosyncratic wonder--and I can't help but think that his best work is yet to come. Before I heard this album I took a look at the cover of the CD and I had to wonder what this guy was trying to do--Seems to be a cross between Urkel and Rick James, perhaps Lightspeed's Clark Kent alter ego? Anyway, the music speaks for itself. Lightspeed is often compared to Morrissey, and that is a pretty fair statement, though the woodwind/pedalsteel orchestration of the album also reminds me a little of Big Star's 3rd, The Triffids, and even John Cale. But really Dev Hynes is completely in the forefront of this record, and he is a singularly brilliant voice. And I hadn't had an artist make such an impression on me for quite some time.

The Tidal Wave To Be Consumed

Galaxy of the Lost is a great song, shifting between the chamber pop woodwind chorus and strings and Smithsy verses. Good choice as the single off this album. Tell Me What It's Worth is reminds me a little of John Cale's 1919, at least at the start, like Half-Past France. That follows with the pastoral folk of the brief All To Shit. After that is the ten minute opus Midnight Surprise: My Time Spent Down the Lavender Bridge, which must be his "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", with so many changes, from twangy country, self-confessional lyrics, molten guitar leads, driving piano passages--for a song of that length, he manages to keep things interesting. Definitely the core song of the album.

Though at times he is incredibly self-deprecating, he also has a great sense of humor. On Devil Tricks For A Bitch, he juxtaposes mundane and depressing lyrics to a accompaniment of strings.  Everyone I Know Is Listening to Crunk--great title, he naturally uses a Country arrangement with pedal steel to convey a song very much in the style of Morrissey. I Could Have Done This Myself is a radio ready rocker with a quieter middle and a spaciousness redolent of a U2 tune.

Dry Lips sounds like something from Big Star, like Stroke It Noel, or Oh, Dana. Salty Water is a dramatically blurry oceanic piano ballad . Let The Bitches Die is a sunny folky workout, a bit of a Vampire Weekend vibe here. The record ends with a electric piano driven ballad that segues into an orchestral arrangement, No Surprise (For Wendela). I really love the diverse arrangements on this record and for all the many influences he seems to have, he makes them his own.

Additionally, he has a new album out called Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You, which I would like to review at later date. He has also self-released a lot of material, including Green Day and a plethora of other groups cover songs, Christmas songs, an album made in a day. On the single Galaxy of the Lost, he covers the Olivia Newton-John's Xanadu in his typically great style. There is also his harder rocking former band The Test Icicles. He also duets with Kristen Wiig on "Rock My Body" from the movie MacGruber. It's a shame he is not more popular here, but in this pay to play modern day recording industry, its easy to understand why he is not. But believe me, this is one of the best and most interesting albums I've heard recently and well worth the money. And Dev Hynes is only warming up.