Headlights Some Racing, Some Stopping by: Steve Scully Mon:24-Mar-08 Label: Polyvinyl Year: 2008 WB rating 80 out of 100

They might claim to be from Champaign, Illinois, but Headlights sure do sound like they’re from Montreal. All the hallmarks of the brilliant Canadian groups are on show in Headlights’ impressive sophomore effort – the male/female vocals, the penchant for orchestral, layered pop – so comparisons to the likes of Arcade Fire and Stars are likely to come thick and fast. The difference here is that, unlike so many who’ve been compared to these bands of late, Headlights deserve to be spoken of in the same breath.

It’s become somewhat of an indie cliché to get a boy and a girl, give them each a microphone and tell them to take turns singing. Headlights’ two frontpersons, Tristan Wraight and Erin Fein (could you find a more Irish-sounding name if you tried?), share vocal duties throughout Some Racing, Some Stopping, at times to brilliant effect. However, as is often the case with bands who get struck by this bolt of genius, you’ll find yourself erring on one side of the line when it comes to preference: with Aussie group George, it was Katie Noonan over her irritatingly Jeff Buckley-obsessed brother; in Stars it’s Amy over Torquil; in Arcade Fire it’s the Winn songs by a long way. In Headlights, the Erin songs pack the killer punches.

Fein’s first vocal effort on Some Racing is the album highlight ‘Cherry Tulips’, which balances gorgeous pop lushness and orchestral spaciousness brilliantly. While it starts off sounding a lot like Arcade Fire’s ‘Rebellion (Lies)’, rather than the dramatic intensity of that band, Headlights possess a whimsical, fragile pop quality seen in the likes of Stars and (sometimes) The Dears. Strings and bells lace the harmony-filled ‘Market Girl’, which jumps along to a heavy, clap-strengthened rhythm and breaks down gorgeously from a rather raucous verse to a quiet, orchestral chorus. The mixed vocal presence adds to the power of the track, as Fein and Wraight’s respective vocals share the limelight. ‘Tower’, which sounds like Up-era R.E.M., again sees Fein take the cake as the more charming of the vocalists, as her near-spoken word verse tops off a perfect indie pop feel.

The vocal presence on this album, it must be noted, is one more of texture than of weight. With the dual vocal attack, it’s the opposing feel of the male and female sound that causes the initial impact, and songs like ‘School Boys’ illustrate this perfectly. Fein’s ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ are the highlight, beneath the reverbed-up Wraight vocal line. Considering the lyrical deficiencies of the band, it’s a blessing that they have such a musical approach to vocals. Take as an example of this these few lines from ‘Get Yer Head Around It’: “The things I will keep/Are never in my sleep/I won’t lie to you/Don’t lie to me/‘cos those bruises heal/Despite how they feel.”

In modern rock, the arm-wrestle continues between the minimalists and those in favour of broader, fuller sounds. Currently, the back of the minimalist’s hand is barely an inch from the table, and Headlights are just adding another burst of strength to this overpowering machine fuelled by glockenspiels, organs, bells and synthesisers. Throughout Some Racing, there’s an inkling that they’ve stepped a little too far at times; Headlights don’t quite go to the Luke Steele, 1000 vocal takes extreme, but they definitely err on the side of excess. The constant ‘ding’ of a glockenspiel is possibly the most irritating sound on the planet, and that is why they are used so sparingly I suspect. Nonetheless, ‘Get Yer Head Around It’, the album’s opening track, exhibits the most profound overuse of this ‘bastardised xylophone’.

However, this ‘over the top’ bent that Headlights possess is more often than not the source of their power. For every moment of affected grandeur (the U2-like crescendo of ‘Get Yer Head Around It’) is a moment of songwriting nous to balance it. At its best, this record is barely short of spine-tingling: and this is mostly the case when they resist the temptation to ‘go big’. ‘Some Racing, Some Stopping’ has the same ‘Neon Bible’ steadiness to it, and the haunting Rhodes sounds glue your ears to the stereo. Similarly, ‘Market Girl’ shows the band experimenting with a vast array of instruments without it taking its toll on the song’s effectiveness: the addition of strings to the mix only heightens the brilliance of the down-beat chorus.

In this review, Arcade Fire and Stars have been mentioned 3 times each; George, The Dears and R.E.M. have each been mentioned once. In this world, as important as it is to be new and innovative, it is ultimately a curbed version of newness that wins out, a version of newness that errs more on the side of the familiar than the challenging. Headlights may sound a lot like some other bands, but they have chosen wisely in their references: not one of the bands mentioned has taken a misstep music-wise, and each has a fan-base as loyal as can be. Some Racing, Some Stopping may not be a great step forward in music, but it is a step into a rare breed, a rare class of bands who make an even rarer type of rock music. They may have a way to go before they equal Set Yourself on Fire – and they’re still light years behind Funeral – but Headlights have a stunning achievement on their hands nonetheless.