Release Date: June 3, 2005
Reviewed by Andy Schwegler
Grounded in the garage rock reassurgence of New York City with a nice tinge of British Pop al la Oasis, White Light Motorcade’s debut Thank You, Goodnight. displays a delightful combination of indie rock harshness, aggressive late 70’s punk and a bit of 80’s brit pop vocal melody. A good showing for their debut, it shows dynamic songwriting and a definite cohesiveness as a band which would no doubt translate into a great live show but ultimately lacks the attention span or punch to really make it a great album.
The few songs which standout get diluted and submerged by the predictable, easily palatable ballads which don’t provide anything new and merely are a display for Harley’s vocal range. A perfect example is the wonderful guitar/vocal harshness of “I could kick myself” showcasing the potential this band has only to dive into “Useless” which kills any sort of impact the previous track provided. Their opening two tracks”Open Your Eyes” and “It’s Happening” provides a nice kick in your ass and set a certain pace , dynamic, and tone which unfortunately isn’t consistent.
Some may argue that their range of songwriting helps the impact of the tracks mentioned above but this only holds true if the slower tracks create as much impact, which they unfortunately do not. Thank You, Goodnight is an enjoyable listen and shows opportunity for these young musicians to grow into amazing songwriters like Oasis but in order to do this they need to break from their counterparts and only let their influences show through sparingly.
Recommended Tracks : I Could Kick Myself / It’s Happpening
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