''Infinite Light'' is the second album by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

indie rock band

Lightning Dust Lightning Dust is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2007 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The band is a side project of Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, both members of Black Mountain.Jagjaguwar Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Jagjaguwar is a label included in Secretly Group, which also includes ...

."Lightning Dust Reveal ''Infinite Light'' Details"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', May 27, 2009.

Composition

Compared to the group's eponymous debut album, ''Infinite Light'' takes the group in an experimental pop direction; it is gentler and smoother, mixing electronic drum beats, synthesizers,

reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

effects and lush string arrangements. According to one reviewer, the classical strings and downbeat piano combine with Amber Webber's "tender yet confrontational voice" for a theatrical feel. The album is eclectic, comprising stringed ballads, psychedelic folk, downbeat 'dirges' and mid-tempo songs held together by roomy drums and eerie keyboards. "The Time" is a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

song with

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

, while "Antonia Jane" has drawn comparison to

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Infinite Light'' has an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 76, based on 13 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Margaret Reges of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

praised Webber's "haunted" singing, comparing her to "

Chan Marshall Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...

with a Gatling-gun vibrato" and writing that her voice perfectly complements the band's "theatrical, darkly glimmering compositions." '' Clash'' reviewer Stephen Maughan considers it a "rewarding album" with a timeless appeal, as it is "something worth visiting through the good times, and bad." For ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'', Anthony Lombardi considered the album a "refreshing follow-up" to ''Lightning Dust'' and writes that although it is not groundbreaking, it builds upon the group's output. Amy Granzin of '' Pitchfork'' considers the album's "overall quality" to partly be for its short length, and noted how the songs begin with standard

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

structures before expanding into "inventive, genre-exploding arrangements", noting an eclectic array of influences including

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

, piano singer-songwriters,

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

s and

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

. Rob Wohl of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' described how the grand piano and retro synths underpin "a mess of ideas", but praised the epic ballads "Never Seen" and "Waiting on the Sun to Rise", which he likened to Bat for Lashes. '' Under the Radar'' reviewer J. Pace drew comparison with Lightning Dust's sister band Black Mountain, writing that both exist "somewhat outside of historical context" and favouring "an audible '70s bias". However, they added that "if Black Mountain indulges the riff, Lightning Dust indulges the song." A reviewer for ''Alternative Press'' considered the album to reveal how Lightning Dust have "stepped away from Black Mountain's shadow".

Track listing

References

2009 albums Experimental pop albums Lightning Dust albums Jagjaguwar albums {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub