There's only so much to be absorbed when it comes to the soaring guitar drone of shoegaze. It is the defining signifier, a battle cry of the genre. Since it is a mammoth in the practice space, a decision must be made as to how a band will deal with it. Ignore it? Tame or mount it? Let it run wild?
On “Lightnet” The Tower of Light chose to let it be the backbone, frozen in time like the remnants of ancient eras. The mammoth is extinct. The Tower of Light introduce beat machine percussion, that gives it a slightly trap rap flare (like the Triggerman beat in glaciers), and vocals that whisper like a god of doom. “Lightnet” is unconventional and in seeking the appropos descriptors, it can read as a terribly doomed marriage, but it's best to consider The Tower of Light as both referential to early 4AD and at home with the current 4AD roster – though this Brooklyn band was swooped on by felte.
The Tower of Light's s/t record is out February 4 on felte.
