Lightspeed Champion's music is very close to those many melodic indie folk bands from Portland at the end of the 00s. However, there's something very British in the sounds. It's quite clear from the vocals that this is not an American who's singing. There are some similarities to Elvis Costello's albums from the late 70s. Another interesting thing is that I can't recall many other black artists who would play music like this.
The rest of the line-up on this album is also very interesting. On many songs, the backing vocals are provided by Emmy the Great, who has made some amazing solo albums of her own. Also, Nate Walcott, a previous member of the band Bright Eyes has arranged the strings on the album. I think the produced side of the album explains the more American sounding production of the album.
The album starts with the aptly named song Number One. It's basically just an intro with some country-style slide guitars. It leads straight to the song Galaxy of the Lost, which is much more ordinary indie pop song. I like the varied melody in the song. There's a true baroque pop mood in the song. Tell Me What It's Worth continues in similar style. I like how the song grows as it progresses. All to Shit is an interlude with some clarinets and acoustic guitars. Midnight Surprise is the sort of hit song of the album, which is a bit strange as this song is almost ten minutes long. This means however, that there are many different parts to the song and it allows lots of playfulness. Devil Tricks for a Bitch is a slow and mellow song played on string instruments that eventually adds on more instruments, but takes its time in doing that. I Could Have Done This Myself is the first song where the overdriven rock guitars come out for the first time. There's still a strong Americana feel to the song. Salty Water runs on a piano. The vocals zoom in and out with varying echoes for the most of the song. Dry Lips is an energetic folky indie song that reminds me of other masterful indie folk musicians, most obviously Andrew Bird. There's similar kind of picking in the guitar and I also love the clarinets that come in at some point. Everyone I Know Is Listening to Crunk is a fantastic endearing easygoing indie bit with some excellent orchestra-style clarinets. No Surprise (For Wendela) / Midnight Surprise sounds a bit like a Badly Drawn Boy song. There's similar kind of bouncing pop intensity. The last song Let The Bitches Die has quite a shocking title, which is strange considering how almost cute the song sounds like. There are some female vocals from Emmy the Great in this song as well.
As I mentioned before, Midnight Surprise is the unusually long hit song of the album. What's even more unusual is that this long song has a music video. Most of the video happens in a normal-lookin London townhouse and its yard, but there are some street sequences as well. The whole video seems like a strange dream with all kinds of strange creatures appearing form time to time.
I don't know why Lightspeed Champion didn't become more well known back in the day. I feel like his Blood Orange was a lot more well-known, even though in my opinion, it's far inferior to Lightspeed Champion. I feel like this would've been quite good live as well, but I never got the chance to see it. Fortunately I still have this album.
Listen to the album on Spotify.
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