Falling Off The Lavender Bridge

After a “consensual” break-up in 2006 of the short-lived UK based indie punk trio Test Icicles, third member in, Dev Hynes, has found solace playing with a new kind of toy that can only loosely be described as Americana folk. What seemed to be a resurgence of testosterone driven hardcore punk anthems a couple of years ago, has now been replaced by a more serene Appalachian folk style- stirred strumming, not shaken riffs, is the preferred woodsy aperitif. Hyne’s latest project Lightspeed Champion (named after a series of comic strips created by Hynes during his teen years) is about as far as you can get from the former metal TI days, but the angst remains just as palpable in a blissfully raw way. Dev has made contact with his vulnerable inner child and attempts to show us that the idea of love is still possible even if achieving the actuality is still somewhat elusive.

Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, Hyne’s first official solo release, plays like a semi-autobiographical diary of one’s fantastical exploration through a life that promises everything wrapped up in optimism, yet rarely delivers the desired seamless end result. I Could Have Done This Myself, a song about losing one’s virginity, shows how jaded one becomes after all the pre-ejaculatory hype is over and the deed is done- idols and infatuations always have a way of disappointing. Dry Lips dissects the day after your self-imposed drinkfest- waking up dehydrated, with a hangover, in a pool of one’s own regurgitated parodies. But LC’s most revealing track is the geniously self-deprecating epic Midnight Surprise which makes it painfully clear that not all of us will live that story book lavender romance- some of us are just destined to fall.

Former moshers that made a connection by exchanging blood and sweat in the quasi brotherhood pit dug by Hyne’s last noise band will feel a bit lost and abandoned on this new album. Lightspeed Champion has replaced all that macho affectation with a full orchestra of good old affection. Let the love fest begin!

Paisley Dalton

album out now!