This article first appeared on The AU Review
Life as a solo artist could get quite lonely, I’d imagine. It’s a message you could easily take from the cover of this album if you just looked closely. After running in packs with the likes of Of Montreal and Regina Spektor, Kishi Bashi’s latest LP Lighght (pronounced “Light”) is spritely with philosophy and self discovery – or whatever. Fact is, after covertly taking the blog-o-sphere by storm with his critical masterpiece 151a back in 2012, Kishi has taken to a life of musical solitary and produced an album that makes you feel, think and… appreciate shit.
Brimming with the unique style of loop based string-smithery that planted the man in top ten lists everywhere for his debut, the album really gets started with the eclectic single Philosophise In It! Chemicalise With It!. A track rampant with the very same indie folk musings he’s known for, but with a few distinct differences. Most importantly, I find myself lured back to the repeat button over and over. Something never achieved when listening to 151a.
The stark contrast between the first single and songs like The Ballad of Mr Steak and Once In A Lucid Dream (in Afrikaans) is noticeable. These tracks run with a pretty recognisable pop format, offering some familiarity to the listener and a much needed break from some of the more complicated work on the album. They could have featured on completely different albums to some of the other tracks, only adding to Kishi’s obvious versatility.
Lighght runs a curious (and at times confusing) line between the complex and the simplistic. It’s clear in the jumps between tracks like the romantic as all hell, Q & A, and the deep, perhaps even dark, Bittersweet Genesis for Him and Her. Every time you think you have this guy pegged he throws something different at you, track to track. It goes from folk to retro. There’s something resembling a rock-operatic in Carry On Phenomenon. Suddenly he’s narrating a track. There’s also some auto-tune in there amongst the sampling and what I guess could be considered ‘world music’. It’s just so beautifully diverse.
The fairy-tale like string samples used throughout Lighght ooze with honesty and heart, while the album itself maintains a catchiness to outshine the technical mastery behind it. Kishi Bashi grabs shades from acts like Death Cab For Cutie or Bright Eyes to create an album that rivals the debut, forming something that both likeable and impressive as a whole.
*****