I have reviewed BC Camplight before and as I previously said, this is a happy go lucky sound of a band that is clearly influenced by 60s flower power and the Brit Pop revival of that sound in the mid 90s. It is inoffensive and initially appears to be rather bland.
The musical happiness disguises the songs darker lyrics and, whilst this may be thought to be a clever ploy by writer Brian Christinzio, I find it just a little too forced. Sunshine pop is perfectly good and breezy tunes have a place in music, but to add dark lyrics this just seems to be a writer trying to be clever for the sake of it rather than writing songs because they come from his heart and soul.
However, Christinzio has a history of mental illness and has been in and out of hospital to try and help him resolve this. Maybe for this writer, mixing the breeziness of flower power with the lyrics akin to Thom Yorke makes sense. Whilst the traumatic lyrics may be hiding behind the poppy tune, this is Christinzio’s way of coping with his illness. To be dark and brooding will not help, but to ignore the parts of his life that inspire his lyrics would be ridiculous. So, we are left with a juxtaposition of songs that whilst desperate for happiness, cannot disguise the turmoil of the writer’s life.
If you want to listen to a band that is more than simply sing-a-long poptastic blandness, but want something that has some dark to balance the light then BC Camplight are a good place to start. This single was released in November, but it is certainly worth taking the time to click onto their MySpace site at
www.myspace.com/bccamplightmusic and listen for yourselves to some of the songs that this band have on offer.
