Nightlight

Nightlight, the debut cd from this seven-piece musical collective, is such a mature and ambitious album that it’s hard to believe it came from a band whose median age is a mere twenty-one years old. On the other hand, Brian Wilson was only twenty-four when he made Pet Sounds. There are heaps of influences on Nightlight, from Rainer Maria to Azure Ray to Wilson’s Smile and Pet Sounds, yet Illumina’s biggest asset is how it takes these influences and expands on them. This is not a band content to merely repeat history. Utilizing broad instrumentation, including strings, banjo, chimes, steel guitar and random clicks, buzzes and hums, Nightlight is at once both mainstream and incredibly forward-thinking. From the opening track, “Not Really,” it’s clear that this is not going to be your typical Indie-band. The songs are all propelled by the fact that the band counts three lead singers and boasts a cast of musicians who can play anything that the songs require of them. - onetimesone