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Illumina
Nightlight
Puffed Wheat Records
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Philadelphia-based Illumina is the group that I’ve been dreaming of for a while now. Music writers all long for that one band to come along and deliver an album that makes them a fan from the get-go, before they’ve even thought about formulating a single sentence. What makes it all the more sweeter is when it comes from such a young band that is already so “there” that all you can do is just sit back and smile stupidly to yourself while the cd plays. Illumina whispers in my ear that they love me, and I believe it.
Track listing:
01 Not Really
02 Acceptance As A Gift
03 In Effigy
04 Parts
05 Acceptance
06 Lullaby
07 You Used To Have Mileage
08 Scratch & Save
09 We're In Love Again
10 What They Believe
11 Thoughtful Letters
12 The New Apology
13 I Want To Die
14 North
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Nightlight, the debut cd from this seven-piece musical collective, is such a mature and ambitious album that it’s hard to believe it came from a band whose median age is a mere twenty-one years old. On the other hand, Brian Wilson was only twenty-four when he made “Pet Sounds.” There are heaps of influences on “Nightlight,” from Rainer Maria to Azure Ray to Wilson’s “Smile” and “Pet Sounds,” yet Illumina’s biggest asset is how it takes these influences and expands on them. This is not a band content to merely repeat history.
Utilizing broad instrumentation, including strings, banjo, chimes, steel guitar and random clicks, buzzes and hums, Nightlight is at once both mainstream and incredibly forward-thinking. From the opening track, “Not Really,” it’s clear that this is not going to be your typical Indie-band. The songs are all propelled by the fact that the band counts three lead singers and boasts a cast of musicians who can play anything that the songs require of them.
The strongest tracks on the album tend to be those that are sung by either of the two female singers in the band, Jen Appel (guitar, vocals) and Minna Choi (vocals, keyboards.) Choi’s three songs are more minimalist in scope, the standout being “Lullaby,” an abstract, child-like dirge whose restrained beauty nearly steals the album. Appel’s cuts are more soaring in their loveliness, and her voice, rich with an enormous depth of emotion, is the star of Nightlight. “Not Really” is a thrill to listen to, while closing track “North” is perfectly heartbreaking with its stark intro and melody gradually building to a passionate, string-soaked crescendo before trailing off into a wash of electronic blips.
The rest of the album showcases guitarist/singer Marc Goodman’s considerable talents. Goodman’s tracks bring out a more adventurous side of Illumina, though some of his arrangements sometimes lean a little too heavily on traditional Indie-rock clichés. Still, songs like “Acceptance as a Gift” and “Thoughtful Letters” are miles ahead of anything I’ve heard lately. Goodman is a gifted songwriter with a good voice and a great ear for detail. All the cuts on “Nightlight” are shockingly good, original and refreshing. It doesn’t play like a debut album at all, but more like a fourth or fifth record, the one that defines a band’s career.
Considering how much Illumina plays in NYC makes me want to kick my own ass for moving from New York to Denmark last year. Discovering a band of this caliber at the beginning of their career is every music reviewer’s dream, and I’d like to go on record as being the first to say it: This band is going to change your life.
-Mark Horan 11/17/04
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