Single Review: Lights Burn Low

Class, sheer class. When I first heard this a face kept popping into my head as to who this reminded me of, but it took ages for the synapses to snap and finally it came into focus, Richard Marx. This is a song which is incredibly well written and arranged (and from a reviewer’s perspective, it is exceedingly rare to be provided with lyrics for a single), with the focus on the vocals and the arrangement both sparse and delicate, yet supportive and providing the edge where it is needed. Lyrically it is about a night out with a girl you’re falling for. It chronicles the night, from getting ready together, the walk into town, moving in and out of bars, dancing and singing to a rock and roll band, and eventually walking her home in the early hours of the morning, and deciding to skip work so that it doesn’t have to end. The song captures the nervous excitement of getting to know someone and going out with them in those early days.

It is a delight from start to end, taking us back to the Eighties where the main focus is the vocals, with just a hint of reverb and no other treatment, but with piano as a base and some nice electric guitar when it is needed and percussion that is just right. This is all about that night, which is special for both of them, as they need nothing else apart from each other. It is a classic rock song, with loads of space in the arrangement and the melodic vocals always front and centre. This is a song out of time and place, as this is what was hitting the charts more than 30 years ago and was destroyed by the advent of grunge, yet music as good as this can never die. It has been a year since the last single, let us hope that there is an album due in the near future as this is class, sheer class.