glorious. just fucking glorious.
that is the word that constantly comes to mind when i listen to this song. i'm really enamored with the 'parallax' album as a whole right now, but to my ears "lightworks" is the standout track that gets my neurons firing--it just really makes me happy.
it is such an unabashed pop song; and i don't mean that in a bad way. in fact, i really love that bradford cox is embracing his pop sensibilities more and more, be it with his atlas sound records or with the band deerhunter. i haven't really heard any of deerhunter's pre-'cryptograms' material, but every release that cox has been a part of since that album (solo or otherwise) has shown a shift where the focus seems to be more on songwriting and arrangement, as opposed to simply texture. that's not to say that texture and mood have been sacrificed, i just think the songwriting has become a lot tighter.
and this last track on 'parallax' appears to be evidence of just that. in a slightly different musical climate, i could see this song being played on the radio. it is so catchy and usually forces me to dance--something about its rhythm makes me gyrate side to side in a thom yorke fashion.
i just absolutely love everything about this song's arrangement. rarely will a song's drum track capture my attention, but there is something fantastic about the drums on this song that i can't quite verbalize (and it wasn't simply the drum intro, though it is good, that made me pay attention to the drums); i think it has something to do with how they interact with the rhythm guitar part. and speaking of guitar, the guitar tracks in this song are just great. they all have a good functionality and tone individually, but the way they combine and interact make them add up to being more than the sum of their parts. what really surprised me though, was the use of a harmonica during the bridge section. it's obviously not one of cox's go-to instruments, but it fits seamlessly and it's exactly what the song needed for that part. truth be told, the first handful of times i heard the song, i didn't even pick out the harmonica--that's how natural it sounded. but the song's real kicker is the chorus, especially the vocals. it's a wordless chorus, but by god does it work; that vocal melody is just joyous.
what i ultimately think draws me to this song is that it's the anomaly on this album--it just radiates with positivity (making it a good note to end on). and like i said, i really love the record as a whole, but i just see this song being the orgasmic release that the rest of the album spent its entire time building up to.
glorious. just fucking glorious. that is the word that constantly comes to mind when i listen to this song. i'm really enamored with the 'parallax' album as a whole right now, but to my ears "lightworks" is the standout track that gets my neurons firing--it just really makes me happy. it is such an unabashed pop song; and i don't mean that in a bad way. in fact, i really love that bradford cox is embracing his pop sensibilities more and more, be it with his atlas sound records or with the band deerhunter. i haven't really heard any of deerhunter's pre-'cryptograms' material, but every release that cox has been a part of since that album (solo or otherwise) has shown a shift where the focus seems to be more on songwriting and arrangement, as opposed to simply texture. that's not to say that texture and mood have been sacrificed, i just think the songwriting has become a lot tighter.
and this last track on 'parallax' appears to be evidence of just that. in a slightly different musical climate, i could see this song being played on the radio. it is so catchy and usually forces me to dance--something about its rhythm makes me gyrate side to side in a thom yorke fashion. i just absolutely love everything about this song's arrangement. rarely will a song's drum track capture my attention, but there is something fantastic about the drums on this song that i can't quite verbalize (and it wasn't simply the drum intro, though it is good, that made me pay attention to the drums); i think it has something to do with how they interact with the rhythm guitar part. and speaking of guitar, the guitar tracks in this song are just great. they all have a good functionality and tone individually, but the way they combine and interact make them add up to being more than the sum of their parts. what really surprised me though, was the use of a harmonica during the bridge section. it's obviously not one of cox's go-to instruments, but it fits seamlessly and it's exactly what the song needed for that part. truth be told, the first handful of times i heard the song, i didn't even pick out the harmonica--that's how natural it sounded. but the song's real kicker is the chorus, especially the vocals. it's a wordless chorus, but by god does it work; that vocal melody is just joyous.
what i ultimately think draws me to this song is that it's the anomaly on this album--it just radiates with positivity (making it a good note to end on). and like i said, i really love the record as a whole, but i just see this song being the orgasmic release that the rest of the album spent its entire time building up to.