Lightspeed Champion

Since the break-up of his short-lived stint as a genre terrorist in Test Icicles, Dev Hynes has matured better than anyone expected. His 2007 debut, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, confirmed that as Lightspeed Champion, Hynes was not just the strongest third in Test Icicles, but also a respectable singer-songwriter with unrestricted potential. Although he seems like the type to throw us off with such a giddy title, Life Is Sweet! meets the heady expectations with a whimsical songwriting style he can proudly call his own. Backed by his little pocket symphony, Hynes is always armed and ready to pull out his strings, be it to subtly accentuate the disco traces of the multi-layered "Marlene" or to add some fat to a lean sing-along like "Faculty of Fears." If there's any flaw to his vision it's that he can sometimes overcompensate with his elaborate arrangements for songs that have enough meat on their bones to succeed stripped down. But it's nice to hear someone as unlikely as Lightspeed Chamption go for broke and come out on top with an album that's as accessible as it is intricate.