Lightspeed Champion

As a member of the self-destructive Test Icicles, Dev Hynes wasn’t exactly in a position to demonstrate his songwriting chops. That band’s abrasive, slapdash genre-hopping was punctuated by an implosion just months after the release of their debut full-length. Needless to say, Hynes had his sights set on something else. That something eventually became Lightspeed Champion, which finds him at the other end of the spectrum, disregarding rampant clanging for lush, orchestral pop. Relocating to Omaha, Dev’s found a new mindset, hiring Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) to helm his recording sessions and inviting the Saddle Creek roster to join in. Lavender Bridge is a complete 180 that uncovers Dev’s singer-songwriter potential, allowing him to write love songs with screwball lyrics and a shit-load of pretty, courtesy of strings, oboe, flute and bottlenecking. Thankfully, Dev hasn’t fallen into the dull trappings of singer-songwriter-dom, slipping in some "motherfuckers” and namedropping crunk in a superb ballad. It’s a complete change of character I didn’t think would work, but the boy’s done right and will hopefully last longer than the melted Icicles.