Lights

The Lights are a trio from Seattle who, after five years together, have finally gotten around to releasing their debut album, Beautiful Bird. Often compared to the likes of Pavement, the Strokes and the Fall, the Lights haven’t really been given a chance to find themselves, but maybe that’s because all the comparisons have been on the ball. Bouncing from one idea to another, Beautiful Bird lacks a cohesive organisation, yet somehow the sloppiness of it all proves to be a winning formula in the end. Whether it’s the slacker charm resurrected from 1994 that makes "Hawaii” delicious or the fact that they might actually have fallen asleep at the 1:26 mark of "Victims Of The Pleasure Of The Sense Of Hearing,” the Lights are hard not to like. At times it’s even as if they’ve forgotten how to play their instruments (check "I’m A Dangerous Snake”), but the ineptitude of this band is admirable and delightful.