Arriving four years after her comic book-influenced Skin & Earth, Canadian singer/songwriter Valerie Anne Poxleitner-Bokan, aka Lights, returns with her most confident and hooky album to date, 2022's rousing Pep. While the album is her fifth overall, it feels like a new beginning, being her first record for the Fueled by Ramen label and her first (barring her instrumental projects) that she produced solely on her own. Furthermore, while electronic, synth-inflected pop is still at the core of Pep, there's a palpable rock ...
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Arriving four years after her comic book-influenced Skin & Earth, Canadian singer/songwriter Valerie Anne Poxleitner-Bokan, aka Lights, returns with her most confident and hooky album to date, 2022's rousing Pep. While the album is her fifth overall, it feels like a new beginning, being her first record for the Fueled by Ramen label and her first (barring her instrumental projects) that she produced solely on her own. Furthermore, while electronic, synth-inflected pop is still at the core of Pep, there's a palpable rock influence running through the album with Lights playing guitar throughout. The record is a bold transformation from Skin & Earth, yet one that builds nicely upon her past work and feels utterly organic. There's a feeling as if she's worked through some personal issues and come out happier and more self-aware. However, rather than focusing on any hard times, cuts like "Sparky" and the punky, reggae-ish "Salt and Vinegar" vibrate with dance club positivity and the sense that Lights has rediscovered herself, both personally and artistically. She underlines this newfound sense of self-discovery on the sinuously hypnotic "Prodigal Daughter," singing "Now I'm making a living/Crashing the algorithm/Flip the pillow to the cool side/Love, magic, feminism/Finally found religion/Laying naked on the poolside." While Lights' assured creativity and warm vocals are the focus, she includes several guest collaborators, including Twenty One Pilots drummer Josh Dun, who supplies his distinctively muscular groove for the anthemic "In My Head." She also joins forces with singer Kiesza on the swaggering "Money in the Bag." With Pep, Lights has leveled up, delivering a potent, lyrically mature, and musically colorful production that balances her empowered feminism with a sleek, take-no-prisoners pop aesthetic. As she sings on "Prodigal Daughter," "Baby, I'm back." ~ Matt Collar, Rovi
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