The Lights to release new album

The Lights Failed Graves out April 27th!

"We were music punk; they were social punk. We were punk against rock & roll and restrictive categories - it was natural that we would want to make music that was different because that, for us, made a punk band!" Mike Watt speaking on the Minutemen

There's always going to be two kinds of punk rock: on one hand, you've got the kind that looks the part; you know exactly what kind of music the kids listen to as soon as you see them. Then there's the other punk rock; working artists who seethe with a quiet anger that's harder to spot and more menacing. The Lights fall squarely in the latter camp. Discordant, cold, aggressive; they'd be as at home sharing the stage with the Stooges, the Fall, or Spacemen 3 as they have been playing with the Obits, McClusky or Franz Ferdinand. Bassist Jeff Albertson, guitarist Craig Chambers and drummer P.J. Rogalski make up the Lights and, believe me, this is a band focused, sharp and at its fighting weight.

A young band flexing their muscles, The Lights first arrived in 2003 with Beautiful Bird. With it, they reminded Seattle just how brutal a power trio could be, and instantly won the heart of their hometown music scene. Then came Diamonds & Dirt in 2006, their first for Wantage USA. This album introduced the band's rich sound to the world at large with time on the charts at KEXP, WFMU and others. Sundance and Cassavetes Award winning director, Lynn Shelton, directed the video for their blazing single from Diamonds & Dirt, "Setting Sun". Now comes, Failed Graves. The album's title refers to the life-span of most bands these days–one to two years– and the fact that the Lights, in 2010, are still triumphantly, defiantly here.

Live, the Lights sound reckless; reckless in that "I don't care what happens in the end, but I'm going for it!" kind of way. With crackling amplifier heat rippling through the crowd, they often take the stage to fans, screaming, losing their minds with anticipation. And then it comes. The single staccato whack of Chambers' guitar that sets off a low, focused buzz. From that moment until the band walks off stage, the crowd and band become a seething piece of energy. Songs crackle with Albertson's ominous basslines. Rogalski's crashing snare & scattered drum beats and the deep baritone of Chambers voice cuts through the din.

Jump, shout, dance around, sweat; everyone who's witnessed the Lights live knows they just cannot be fucked with.

Failed Graves gives us eleven slices of sonic exploration. They careen from classic Lights cuts, all sexed up and gaunt, like opener "Buttons Vs. Boulders" and "The Fixer," to songs that grow their stark sound into something more lush and detailed. "New New" with it's "oooh-ooh-ooohs" is the most accessible song these three gentlemen are probably ever going to let you hear.

The galloping "Puerto Escondido" sees them take a storied approach wherein we hear Albertson and Chambers join each other for an epic chorus: "I've been drinking, I've been drowning in my blood. I've been sinking, I've been crying for your love!" The album finishes with Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown", slowed down and sincere, Chambers sings deadpan "I don't care what you fucking do. I don't care what you fucking say. I don't care about anything, I just wanna die." right before the band blows the song out in a halftime, feedback buzzed finish.

Young men take note, the Lights are not in their grave. Not even close!

The Lights release Failed Graves on Wäntage USA, April 27th, 2010