Pitchforks: 5/5
Record Label: Mute
Big Deal’s debut LP “Lights Out” is released today in the United States after receiving much acclaim from the British music press since September.
Songwriting partners Londoner Alice Costelloe and Los Angeles-native Kacey Underwood recorded the album with Mute, the same label that released Trent Reznor’s three-hour, utterly frightening score of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
The absence of rhythm instruments makes Big Deal’s sound slightly unorthodox. The two instruments, a clean acoustic guitar and a choppy, heavily distorted electric guitar, serve as the plaintiffs to the case that Big Deal brings to the table - the meek dejection that tails the end of a relationship.
Compositionally, “Lights Out” has cutting dual guitar lines combined with weighty, shared vocals that slowly build.
After a few spins of “Lights Out” people will find themselves singing, humming or whispering along with the perpetually crestfallen hooks.
“Lights Out” is acutely melancholic and does not offer a glimpse of sanguine sentiment in any of its thirteen tracks.
This would normally become tedious after the first listen, but in a strange and inexplicable way, “Lights Out” manages to worm its way into the deepest corner of the most untroubled heart.
The restraint culminates and breaks on the track “Talk,” which separates itself from the rest of the album. The chorus of this song also incorporates the most poetic and striking use of the F-word.
“Lights Out” is equivalent to a flipbook of black and white photographs taken of a relationship that has one week left.
The beauty and tragedy of “Lights Out” is that it will evoke the memory of a damaged relationship in any listener whether it be a former lover, an estranged parent or even a lost friend.
It’s an enterprising and engaging collection of songs that should be listened to with the utmost amount of caution, as it will bring back many regrettable memories.
Reach the reporter at rrocklif@asu.edu
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