Lights new album might be entitled Midnight Machines, but it certainly doesn’t sound like machines. Quite the contrary, it’s an acoustic record. Just as she released Siberia Acoustic following her album Siberia, she’s released Midnight Machines as an acoustic companion to Little Machines, hence the title.
The album opens with “Up We Go,” my favorite song from Little Machines, and it’s quite charming. I wouldn’t say that I like it more than the original version, but I definitely like it just as much. There’s a certain magic to the way her pretty voice sounds with delicate acoustic guitar. It’s followed by “Same Sea,” which features some tender strings and comes across like the perfect song for your cafe and chill out mixes. It’s so good that I actually would say that I like this version more than the original. There’s little point in comparing the albums though. They’re both fantastic and show the singer/songwriter at her very best.
There are a couple of songs here that I don’t recall being on any of her previous releases. The first one is “Follow You Down.” “When the darkness comes / It surrounds you / In your sleep,” she sings hauntingly. The other is “Headcold” and her voice sounds ethereal as she sings it, the acoustic guitars and strings once again creating something tender and special.
If you’re a fan of anything Lights has done in the past, this exquisite release is sure to please you. But if you found her music to be too electronic for you then I would suggest you give this release a spin; it’s kind of the antithesis of her usual sound.
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