Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You (2010)

Review By Tom Grant

Dev Hynes loves to make music. 

This fact has become more and more apparent the further we delve into his already illustrious career, with the songster already having one band, one collaboration, one pseudonym and two albums under his belt, something quite astounding considering he’s still only 24. 

However, this reviewer is not complaining, because with his sophomore album recorded under his Lightspeed Champion pen name, he has created a true piece of art.

Through his second offering, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You, we see Hynes expand on the folk-pop of his 2008 debut, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, to bring us a collection of thrusting rock tunes, airy love songs and (gulp) musical theatre ballads. 

And to top all of this off, the entire album is encompassed by Hynes’ supreme knack for writing a killer pop tune.

The album's first single Marlene gives our first taste of a heavier "Lightspeed Champion", albeit dispersed on either side of a heart-wrenchingly beautiful bridge, something which comes as a bit of change to an old fan, but something which is most certainly welcome.

This heavier nature exits as quickly as it entered, as we soon become privy to the more popier efforts on the album. 

Heartbreaking love song There’s Nothing Underwater provides us with the first sing-a-long chorus of the album, only trumped by 'Madame Van Damme', which is sure to become the live hit off this album.

'The Big Guns Of Highsmith' is the first real challenge, with a bizarre baroque chorus exposing this record for what it really is - an all out indie opera.

Intertwined by innovative instrumental progressions, Hynes does not appear to be writing this album for anyone but himself. However, rather than doing this in an act of selfishness or arrogance, he has closed himself from external pressures and has produced something that is truly his own.

"Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You" sees Hynes delving into the darker side of what his music can create, whilst still maintaining the pop sensibilities that made his debut such a hit.

These pop sensibilities are hard to come by, and whilst he has not let himself become subject to the monotonous machinations of the mainstream market (ahem... I’m looking your way Ke$ha), he has utilised them to perfection, truly creating pop for the indie masses.

RATING: 4 out of 5

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