Lightspeed Champion ‘Tell Me What It’s Worth’

The thing about favourite bands is they’re so unreliable. Either they split up, leaving behind a handful of decent albums if you’re lucky, or they don’t spilt up leaving you trying your best to like their average later works.

And even if they do manage to serve up just the right amount of musical joyousness, you will always find yourself wanting to listen to them, but it’s not quite them you want to hear.

Which is why Domino Records recording artiste Dev Haynes, Mr Lightspeed Champion, is a gobsmacking addition to your new favourite band list. I’m not going to mention his previous band, Test Icicles, because then I’d have to say we had ‘em on warchildmusic.com before nu rave was even invented and that would make it sound like I knew what I was doing and that won’t do. ‘War Child Music? Didn’t they big up Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party early doors?’ I hear you say. Indeed.

So, anyway, the point of the whole unreliable thing being? Lightspeed Champion does songwriting that tilts at just the right angle – it avoids being too mainstream, yet doesn’t fall too far inside the leftfield which is a grand trick. Best, it draws from the good bits that have gone before without sounding too much like them. Lemondheads, Morrissey, Weezer, B&S, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Dolly Parton, Phil Sepctor, The Arcade Fire, you know, the usual. Perhaps not Dolly Parton.

It’s a constant disappointment when you find bands being raved about only to find they sound like other bands, who sound like other bands. Think six degrees of Kevin Bacon except you end up at The Beatles or Elvis, depending. In fact, you can probably link Kevin Bacon to The Beatles in six moves or less…

You could end up anywhere if you try trace Lightspeed Champion backwards. And that is very good thing indeed.

More Hear…
- You know the drill by now, obligatory MySpace page…
- Best price on Amazon Marketplace for his mighty fine ‘Falling Off The Lavender Bridge’ album is a frankly insulting £6.70. That’s almost giving away what will be one of the albums of the year. Honestly.