Through Illuminate, indie group LITE shows how talented a band can be, minus the starring role: a vocalist.
Interestingly enough, Illuminate is entirely composed of instrumental pieces and if vocals were added, it would simply be too much. Released on July 7, 2010, LITE promises fans more amazing pieces.
The minute or so long intro to Drops paints an abstract idea of rain. The intro begins with the eerie sound of rain beating down on the pavement. From here, the song focuses on individual drops as the titles suggests, the journey the raindrops take until reaching the ground.
The impact of the raindrops hitting the pavement is explored in the following track. The rain fails to subside; both repeated sound-bytes of actual rain falling and what sounds like clapsticks or xylophones in the background continue on into the start of Image game. A layer of rhythmic guitar washes over the song and as time passes, more layers are added into the mix. Some of the guitar riffs are repeated too often, but to fix this would be to shorten the track. However, all in all LITE proves themselves to be an exceptional group.
Though On The Mountain Path has a great lead in, the rest of the song doesn’t quite meet expectations. There are too many repeated guitar riffs and melodies, sounding like a desperate cry for vocal accompaniment. Still, On The Mountain Path is a good listen, especially if you enjoy game or movie instrumental soundtracks.
Through the addition of voice in Andromeda, we see a slight change. The tempo drops slightly, giving the track the feeling of being background music. Again, the track could have been shortened and could have used some staccato notes to change for the better, but the most striking feature is the manipulation of voice to match the tone of the instruments.
The final track on Illuminate catches the listener by surprise. Instead of a low-key but complicated track, LITE keeps the listeners on their toes with 100 Million Rainbows by waking them up with a heated darkwave electronica mix. Unlike the title, 100 Million Rainbows takes a far darker tone and is easily liked for its versatility. It combines the washed-out electronic era from the 80’s with a slightly rock edge.
Since the release of Illuminate, LITE has kept a busy schedule, performing at Fuji Rock Festival on July 31. In mid-August, LITE will also be doing a short three event mini-tour in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to promote Illuminate with guest DE DE MOUSE. Mid-October to November, LITE will be touring again throughout Japan with the event, LITE presents SPECTRUM vol. 6.
Illuminate will be released in Europe on August 16, 2010, containing three extra tracks: The Sun Sank, Vermillion and Tomato, the latter two being from LITE’s Turns Red EP.
