Lights of Berlin

By Bailey Lions

LIGHTS OF BERLIN are like a star on the Perth horizon that appears so often and so brightly you start to set your watch by it, and then you realise it’s actually a planet. Formed less than a year ago, the group have quickly risen to prominence, and their debut EP Brand New Day highlights the exceptional talent of this promising young four-piece.

Brand New Day is a near impeccable collection of pop-rock ballads featuring manicured rhythms, sparkling and delicate guitar work, and very, very impressive vocals. Front man Devon Bayer, who got his start with Youtube acapella covers, absolutely shines on the EP, shines with sincere and emotional lyrics that soar above the mix in a display of stunning dynamic range and control.

The EP opens with ‘Chosen Ones’, a track that encapsulates the immaculate attention to detail and pop-sensibilities of Lights of Berlin. As pumped as the band gets throughout the song, they stay packed and sealed tight like lightning in a jar, delivering a powerful and captivating chorus hook. What truly delivers the impact of this strong first song is the power of chain ‘woah-ohs’ that immediately strike the listener with a sense of epic presence, pulling hearts from the chests of their audience in a captivating crescendo.

Following on from this great start is title track ‘Brand New Day’. A more daring affair than ‘Chosen Ones’, it launches the band forward with true rock moments and a strong chorus. The song takes a more straight forward approach in its structure, which does leave it feeling a little predictable. However, small quirks help keep things interesting enough between the varied pop-hooks.

But by tracks 3 and 4, Brand New Day starts to run out of steam. ‘Messages’ and ‘Goodbye’ are much slower and even paced, without anywhere near the power of the opening songs, even though they still continue the band’s perfectionist streak. While not as immediately engaging as the earlier songs, these 2 appreciate like fine wine with multiple listens.

Stunningly high production values are obvious throughout the record, emphasizing the dedication of a band who’ve spent the entire year they’ve been together trickling out singles. ‘Chosen Ones’, ‘Brand New Day’, and ‘Messages’ have all been released previously and, to those already acquainted with the quartet, there’s little here you haven’t heard before, but it’s the unwavering level of production that makes Brand New Day feel intact.

Brand New Day resolves as a comfortably predictable collection of songs, and while you could argue about whether or not that’s a desirable trait or not, the song writing talent of Lights of Berlin is irrefutable. An excellent showing from a young band that proves the promise of the Perth scene is deeper than low-fi grunge and 90’s revival. Come on and sing. - Space Ship News

THIS OTHER EDEN, AVASTERA, LIGHTS IN BERLIN, SHORT OF DAYBREAK
ROSEMOUNT HOTEL
26 January, 2014
Plants littered the stage, creating a dense atmosphere in the darkness of the Rosemount band room on Friday night, as if it had turned into a mini forest for This Other Eden’s debut EP and video launch.

Short Of Daybreak came on first, bursting with energy and sheer talent. Their latest song, Make Mistakes, Not Regrets, sounded tight and polished but it was Brodi Owen’s exceptional vocals that set them a cut above the rest. Transitioning from lively, upbeat vocal melodies and holding every note into heavy screams of perfection in the breakdowns, this is a band to see.

Judging by the cheers at the end, Lights In Berlin gained themselves a few new fans when they hit the stage. The bassist’s stage presence was incredible as he tore around and stood out in the most exuberant way, working nicely with the upbeat catchy hooks and some perfect high vocal notes from the ridiculously talented Devon Bayer.

Before the instruments were picked up, This Other Eden showcased their latest video clip, for the single, Shake This. Featuring some women, a beach, a lot of gore and intestine-eating that strangely enough turn out to be hallucinations, the guys actually eating pineapples and a whole bunch of fruit, it definitely left something to the imagination and was well received by a plethora of cheers. As they jumped on stage to launch their EP, Six Seasons, surrounded by their own mini Garden of Eden, This Other Eden unleashed their swift tunes of solid rock with a bit of punk thrown in and some pockets of catchy harmonies, which the crowd ate up. Whilst they sounded fantastic and owned the stage, they weren’t groundbreaking enough to shake up Perth’s scene.

There are two things that spring to mind when another band takes a headline spot. Either the band doesn’t think they are good enough to headline their own launch, or there’s a bunch of dudes demanding higher spots on the bill because they think they deserve it more. Either way, it doesn’t look great, so as naturally expected the crowd that was still lingering inside for headliners Avastera was about half the size of that for the first band.

Although musically the band excelled – hitting the right notes, heavy riffs complementing the screams, and Dylan Symonds’ vocals exceptional – it was the over-exaggerated stage temperament that let the show down. When you’re playing to a crowd of less than 30 people, tone it down. Pulling your shirt off and running around chaotically makes you look more like a douchebag than a rock star.

Written by Nichola Gray - The Music.com

Song review: Chosen Ones
Band: Lights Of Berlin
Location: You know what? Where the fuck do you think they’re from. Perth. Again.
Date of Release: 23rd September 2013
Genre: Pop/Rock
Reviewer: Erised

Fucking Perth.

So I pressed play on this and my immediate thought was “Holy fucking Pac-Man on a unicycle this sounds AMAZING”. The production is just so damn crisp. So naturally, I went looking for who was responsible for this mastery, and I already had a suspicion as to who the culprit was. I clicked the show more tab and lo and behold… Roland. Fucking. Lim. ‘nuff said really.

Approaching the rest of this song without giving into the “production swoon” was difficult, to be honest. I read a bit further into these guys and apparently their vocalist is something of a YouTube sensation, wowing people with his a capella (vocals only) covers. Straight away you can see why. This kid has some serious pipes. No kidding. He could just about sing anything and it would sound great, and his appropriate use and placement of his falsetto is yet more evidence of his maturity beyond his years.

The rest of the band compliments his voice spectacularly, coming across as equal parts Birds of Tokyo, The Killers and The Temper Trap. The chiming guitars over the top really fill out the sound nicely, the bass is fantastic, the drums are energetic and driving. It’s seriously damn near flawless.

I’m not sure exactly how you could improve this song, to be totally honest. Everything does exactly what it should, when it should. There isn’t a note, fill or line out of place. Even the anthemic “woah oh’s” suit the stadium rock aesthetic down to a ‘T’. The scary thing is that these guys will no doubt get better…

Vocals: 9.5/10
Guitars: 9/10
Bass: 9/10
Drums: 9/10
Production: 10/10
Lyrics: 8.5/10
Songwriting: 9/10
Overall IPHYB Rating: 9/10 - I probably Hate Your Band