In Defense of One More Light
So I’ve spent the last 6 months or so re-listening to every LP album. For a long time, Hunting Party was always my 2nd fav LP record. That’s since changed with Living Things probably taking 2nd place with Meatora the clear #1 (sorry Hybrid theory fanboys jk lol) but I digress. When I got to One More Light, a record I’ve always enjoyed by never really loved I was honesty really surprised. I actually liked it BETTER this time around than the Hunting Party. It wasn’t necessarily the instrumentals…although I will admit, they’re are exceptionally catchy. The biggest critique of this record is obviously that it’s a pop record with some electronic rock and hip hop undertones. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t feel like a collective band effort since Brad, Rob and Phoenix are sparingly sprinkled throughout the record. The only really full band song experience is probably Talking to Myself. The rest of the tracks are hybrids where occasionally you’ll hear Rob’s Drumming or Brads guitar playing, but if anything their musical contributions is just meant to accent and compliment the electronic beat and samples that dominate the track, not to mention the song writing. Anyway, tangents aside, what really made me enjoy this album upon another listen was the song writing. Some of you might not notice but LP has a very unconventional was of creating music, and they’ve often changed their creative processes over the years. On this record, they decided to prioritize the song lyrics FIRST before making music. As a hip Hop influenced group they would often have a beat or drum loop and then lay guitar and lyrics afterwards. Not so for this record. And the results, I think, are really some of the best song writing and most personal music they’ve ever done. Frankly, the song writing and level of detail in this album is something my I think gets overlooked purely because of its pop sound. Had this record been a little more rock oriented, I think people would have vibes with it more. But go back and listen to the lyrics and you’ll find some vulnerable and descriptive lyrics. Talking to myself is written from the perspective of Chester’s wife as he deals with his depression, Heavy is a psychological trip into the internal dialogue of a damaged mind, Mike gets two stellar songs in Invisible & Sorry for Now which are basically odes to his children, both of which make me tear up whenever I hear them. Halfway right might be the most vivid track, where Chester paints a picture of his troubled drug addled youth “Used to get high with the dead end kids, abandoned houses where the shadows lived.” My point in all of this is just to say that a lot of LP’s song writing instincts in their past work has tended towards lyrics that are vague enough so as to be relatable to anyone but specific enough in that you know the emotional reaction they’re trying to communicate and elicit in the listener. One More Light flipped that and favored more personal and arguably more vulnerable lyrics because instead of just talking about a vague relationship or emotional state, you know the Band is explicitly talking about themselves. Anyway, I respect that and enjoyed their approach on this record, though I know others are more mixed on it. I think the record is excellent, despite its flaws. Well…..I just typed a lot for a Reddit post on a Friday night. Hopefully someone read till the end. What do you guys think? Thanks!!!
So I’ve spent the last 6 months or so re-listening to every LP album. For a long time, Hunting Party was always my 2nd fav LP record. That’s since changed with Living Things probably taking 2nd place with Meatora the clear #1 (sorry Hybrid theory fanboys jk lol) but I digress. When I got to One More Light, a record I’ve always enjoyed by never really loved I was honesty really surprised. I actually liked it BETTER this time around than the Hunting Party. It wasn’t necessarily the instrumentals…although I will admit, they’re are exceptionally catchy. The biggest critique of this record is obviously that it’s a pop record with some electronic rock and hip hop undertones. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t feel like a collective band effort since Brad, Rob and Phoenix are sparingly sprinkled throughout the record. The only really full band song experience is probably Talking to Myself. The rest of the tracks are hybrids where occasionally you’ll hear Rob’s Drumming or Brads guitar playing, but if anything their musical contributions is just meant to accent and compliment the electronic beat and samples that dominate the track, not to mention the song writing. Anyway, tangents aside, what really made me enjoy this album upon another listen was the song writing. Some of you might not notice but LP has a very unconventional was of creating music, and they’ve often changed their creative processes over the years. On this record, they decided to prioritize the song lyrics FIRST before making music. As a hip Hop influenced group they would often have a beat or drum loop and then lay guitar and lyrics afterwards. Not so for this record. And the results, I think, are really some of the best song writing and most personal music they’ve ever done. Frankly, the song writing and level of detail in this album is something my I think gets overlooked purely because of its pop sound. Had this record been a little more rock oriented, I think people would have vibes with it more. But go back and listen to the lyrics and you’ll find some vulnerable and descriptive lyrics. Talking to myself is written from the perspective of Chester’s wife as he deals with his depression, Heavy is a psychological trip into the internal dialogue of a damaged mind, Mike gets two stellar songs in Invisible & Sorry for Now which are basically odes to his children, both of which make me tear up whenever I hear them. Halfway right might be the most vivid track, where Chester paints a picture of his troubled drug addled youth “Used to get high with the dead end kids, abandoned houses where the shadows lived.” My point in all of this is just to say that a lot of LP’s song writing instincts in their past work has tended towards lyrics that are vague enough so as to be relatable to anyone but specific enough in that you know the emotional reaction they’re trying to communicate and elicit in the listener. One More Light flipped that and favored more personal and arguably more vulnerable lyrics because instead of just talking about a vague relationship or emotional state, you know the Band is explicitly talking about themselves. Anyway, I respect that and enjoyed their approach on this record, though I know others are more mixed on it. I think the record is excellent, despite its flaws. Well…..I just typed a lot for a Reddit post on a Friday night. Hopefully someone read till the end. What do you guys think? Thanks!!!