Ai Phoenix - The Light Shines Almost All the Way - review (page 2 of 2)

It is somewhat inevitable that this band are inevitably going to be pigeonholed with the lo-fi tag but one gets the feeling this band are fighting back as they have produced eleven individually unique and diverse songs. The album's opening track, 'You and I', is one of the most airy and uptempo songs on 'The Light Shines Almost All the Way', yet steers clear of being twee. It sets the scene for the high standards that follow. 'Peter Pan' swings in from far left with its quirky country feel, a track that would not be out of place on an album by John Peel's favourite German band FSK.

Of particular note is 'The Party's Over', which, at the record's halfway mark, is a quiet and refined love song evoking memories of that moment when you are in your lover's arms, gazing pensively into the glowing embers of a bonfire at the end of a party on the beach. Exquisite.

The album is summed up so well by Mona, as she whispers on 'Companion', the second track, "Excellent songs about being alone, or in love". If you are one of these, or even both, then you will find a song here with your name on it.

AI Phoenix need not have been so modest with the title of this perfect album's title... the light shines all of the way for this band.


Cyrus Pearce
(pennyblackmusic.co.uk)

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