BRIGHT LIGHTS - When Stories Become Places

12 songs
38:35 minutes
***** ***
White Russian

Bandpage

In late 2012, Swiss quintet Bright Lights saw the light of day. The come from Goldau which lies pretty much in the centre of Switzerland, and maybe that’s why the chose their local Lauerzersee as the cover artwork of their debut album When Stories Become Places, which comes out four years after the band’s foundation.

And it was well worth the wait because Bright Lights play finest melodic pop punk the way it isn’t actually that fashionable anymore these days. Maybe only Belvedere are playing similarly beautiful and catchy melodies, the kind of made popular by bands like NOFX, No Use For A Name, Lagwagon and the likes.

The album contains twelve songs that all make it to more or less three minutes and offer what one expects of melodic pop punk. The opener and title track starts a little mellower but soon gains momentum and finally finds a successful balance between emocore and melodic punk. And that’s the band’s chosen path. The very compact songs are quite stirring and will stick in your ear canal. On Here We Are, Bright Lights sound more gentle, even a tad commercial, but that also works well for them. Another highlight is Overwhelmed which has a dramatic touch and gives its name justice. Angrier material can be sampled on Burning Mind and Singularity. The rousing Something Bigger is also a pleasant track more towards the record’s end, and then the album ends with Raise A Glass, some kind of hymn and the only track over four minutes long, yet also maybe a little too long for its own good.

All in all, Bright Lights don’t offer anything that hasn’t been heard before, but nowadays it feels very refreshing to come across new and unspent melodic punk bands. When Stories Become Places left a really good impression on me.