Headlights – Some Racing, Some Stopping

Like it or not, Indie rock has become comfort music for an entire generation that’s either too shell-shocked to this past decade’s excesses, or were to apathetic to care in the first place, to demand anything out of their music either than a quantam of solace. This seems to be especially true of 2008, which, as a year, seems to be the year of the melody. All of the major breakout groups of this year – Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend are but two examples – are bands with a sharply defined, if hardly original, aesthetic which create highly melodious music with just the right amount of quirk. Because of this, I understand why people are so critical of these groups. But on the other hand, what group making their debut album isn’t wholly indebted to their influences. While I’m hardly fond of the groups I just mentioned, I read some of the backlash, and all I can say is “cut the muthafuckas some slack.”

So where do Headlights, a trio from Champaign, IL, fall into all of this? It’s because they, on the surface, are another group with a sharply defined musical aesthetique that’s popular with the blog segment (you may have seen “Cherry Tulips” near the top of the Elbo.ws chart earlier this year). Their debut album was 2006’s Kill Them With Kindness, and it was an indie-pop album indebted to the likes of The New Pornographers and Stars, amongst other groups of that ilk. As an album, it belongs to a very particular brand of under-rated album: a record that delivers solid pleasures throughout its entirety, but one that’s often forgotten around Best-Of list time because it didn’t blow enough minds.

Like Wye Oak, Headlights specialize in gentle, folk-tinged indie-pop music that makes one realizes that it wasn’t just Yo La Tengo who was hearing the heart beat as one. Even with that obvious reference point, Some Racing, Some Stopping has a lot of pop pleasures, as the record is pretty much a constant stream of gorgeous, wavy guitar textures, and soft, airy vocals. It’s easy to listen to without being easy listening.

Stopping is segmented according to its album title, with the upbeat songs appearing on the first half of the record, and the slower, dreamier songs dominating the second. The Racing starts off right away with “Get Your Head Around It”, a track that’s begins slowly, with singer Tristan Wraight’s Brian Wilson-esque tenor and a chirpy, jangly guitar line that practically gallops. Eventually, the vocal lines become multi-tracked harmonies, and then the whole band appears to bring the song to a close, with xylophones, wordless sing-alongs, and reverb-heavy guitar suggests a Very Beach Boys Christmas.

From there, singer Erin Feins and Wright split vocal duties and the music itself retains its upbeat and poppy flavorings. “Market Girl” sounds like Stars covering The Strokes, with the boy-girl whispering-in-a-bedroom harmonies of the former meshing with the metronomic drumming and sturdy basslines of the latter. “Cherry Tulips” takes the classic chord progressions of girl-groups past and literally runs with it, as skipping drum betas and ringing, arpeggiated guitars help speed the listener along like a snowflake. Again, it’s a Very Indie-Pop Christmas.

After the equally chipper “On April 2nd,” the Headlights slow down some with the mid-tempo “School Boys.” A sturdy, Stars-like bassline helps prop the more lush, orchestral elements before the song comes to an abrupt end. The title track is the album’s first slow song, with a soft, digitalized drumbeat echoing the rhythm of a heart, while “So Much For the Afternoon” picks up the pace a little bit while keeping the hushed, intimate vibe of the record’s second half intact. “Catch Them All” recalls a less freeform version of Yo La Tengo’s “Cherry Chapstick”. Finally, the album’s last two tracks, “Towers” and “January” – the latter is an Elliot Smith-esque waltz – make sure that Some Racing, Some Stopping ends on a note of geniality.

And this record is nothing if not genial. Each of these songs is a pleasure to listen to, but the dichotomous sequencing means that the songs tend to run together. Still, as far as a soundtrack for your indie-rock winter is concerned, this is as solid an album as any.

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Tagged as: Champaign, indie pop