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City Of Lights

Seasons Change

Written by: PP on 26/11/2012 00:08:47

City Of Lights, who are not to be confused with the awesome pop punk group City Lights, are a little known pop/rock/indie quartet from Leeds, UK, whose debut album "Seasons Change" was released nationwide digitally in late August. They write relaxed, simplistic rock/pop with semi-acoustic melodies standing behind enjoyable clean singing, which should draw comparisons to bands like Snow Patrol, but also a low-key version of Coldplay just without the stadium-sized songs.

No, "Seasons Change" is indeed a much more intimate album sonically speaking. While they know how to write as catchy indie/rock song as anyone else in the genre, they make a specific point out of expressing these through sheer warmth of their soundscape. Although electric guitar is used extensively throughout the record, it's the acoustic contrast that gives the songs their soft character and laid-back vibe. And while balladic, the songs never bore the listener because they aren't just ballads for the sake of ballads rather than honest expressions of emotion and the desire to write music. That's something that often goes lost on me when otherwise 'rock' bands go for the classic ballad, because it often feels too restrained and too weak compared to their other material. Here, the focus has been the opposite: they take the ballad, and expand on it with feeling and, sometimes, extremely catchy choruses, as is the case for "Honesty" and "Wake Me Up" in particular.

If you're into material that's more up tempo, songs like "Was It All Worth It?" will fill in your need for that as well. In that sense, "Seasons Change" is a balanced album of simple pop/rock songs with a slight indie rock backdrop for good measure. It's decent, and has a bunch of good songs on it. It'll be interesting to see what they can do with a bigger production budget in the future.

Download: Was It All Worth It?, Honesty, Wake Me Up
For the fans of: Snow Patrol, Doves, Coldplay, The Fray
Listen: Facebook

Release date 27.08.2012
Self-Released