Some music just has a right place and right time. Certain bands that cruise along on solid ensemble playing fronted by a heady-voiced front-man and without necessarily virtuoso musicianship – like Semisonic, milder Pavement cuts, Vertical Horizon or Wild Light’s “Adult Nights” – just make good music with which the mid-twenties set can fill high-ceiling, straight-out-of-Chipotle decorated lofts.

Harder-headed listeners sometimes just don’t get why other people like bands like these. Here’s a hint: it’s middle ground. As much as there is to love about the virtuosity or phenomenal arranging of a lot of more progressive alternative acts or the rawness of true punk and hardcore, sometimes there needs to be a balance between something you play and ignore while you work on something else, and something that makes you hang on every note like a good bit of conversation over coffee at 9 a.m.

Wild Lights gets that done nicely. This is the stuff for the Macbook-toting, latte-sipping, horn-rim-wearing set with tousled hair shuffling in skinny jeans to and from work or university classes. Everything is just “there” but it’s all where it needs to be. "California on my Mind" might just be the most optimistic song about frustration anyone hears in a while, just because that steady feel and even then tambourine’s jangle make “fuck California” sound more like a relieved washing-one’s-hands statement than a grumbling gripe.

"New Hampshire" goes surprisingly minimalist. It’s really little else but a rolling snare beat over vocals colored by a rhythm guitar you know is there, without it ever overpowering anything. But something in those yearning, heady vocals gives it such a bright tone. Really, it’s hard to listen to any one song on this set and stay in a “down” mood. On "New Hampshire" in particular, that snare is so hypnotic, it’s pretty easy to just tune anything on the track out and focus on the drums.

It’s fairly easy to see why bands like Wild Lights usually enjoy fleeting radio success, if any at all: sometimes a hit like Semisonic’s "All About Chemistry" or Wild Lights’ "Canyon City" or "California on my Mind" break through and make a few fans who stick around long after radio moves on. But bands like this evolve beyond hooks that make so many listeners miss the forest for the one big tree.

This is stuff for people who put substance over style, but know good music doesn’t need to re-invent the wheel every few years. For mid-twenty-somethings inhabiting downtown lofts and walking or riding bikes to work or play, these are songs about yearning that don’t come off desperate. This is an album that should be prized for offering up very, very little not to like.

Ultimately, it’s a set about having some things to work on, but knowing you can handle whatever you need to do. It’s good music for when you know things aren’t perfect, but aren’t out of control, either.

Review by: Sean Comer

Additional link:
- Wild Light on Myspace