Phillyist Reviews... Headlights

To be honest, I can't decide whether or not I liked Headlight's concert. Not that they aren't talented, fun, or entertaining, but I just can't decide. I waited to write my review so I could think a bit more clearly on it, but frankly it's not coming to me. I will say that their recent release, Kill Me With Kindness, is one of my favorite albums right now. I even went to iTunes and bought their EP, The Enemies. There has to be a pretty damn good reason to buy an entire EP (I know it's only $3.96, but I'm a school teacher - that's like 3 hours of work!) and the reason is their music rocks. As far as transferring it to the live venue, well that's another story.

Overall, the sound levels were just off. Maybe my ears are not up for rock shows, but I am. I still have ringing in my ears and it was three nights ago. I was surprised because I stuffed napkins in my ears as pseudo earplugs. It seems that there is a clear difference in audio levels at concerts with well-known bands vs. up and coming bands. The levels for the first band, The Trolleyvox, were completely off. The drums and guitars were so loud you couldn't even hear the singer. Headlights was much better, though still off. Page France, the headlining show, was even better.

Erin Fein's vocals have a dream-like quality, especially in their single, "TV." Her energized pop/rock sound complements Tristan Wraight's vocal harmonies very well. The use of repeated chords in the piano gives their music a taste of Philip Glass' minimalist techniques. The use of electronicism gives them the creative edge over other Indie-rock bands. It seems new and exciting but really they are just taking several different musical genres and mashing them into one. Sounds good to me.

As Headlights' keep growing their fan base, hopefully their sound will become better and better. I want to hear Fein's vocals and be entranced by them, not be overblown by the drums. I'm ready for the next concert though. I'll have professional earplugs next time instead of napkins! Hopefully everyone else will, too; I don't want all of our readers to become deaf because of their love for Indie-rock. If you don't want to buy the professional kind, I advise you to use the napkin trick; it really did help.

Photo taken by author