Track Listing > >
Suffer For Two / Lord, I’ve Been On Fire / Werewolf Waltz / Forget About Your Bones / Say Tonto! / The Hip And The Homeless / The 22 Skidoo / Officer Down / Grey Young Amelia / Scare Me Sweetly ONE LITTLE INDIAN
BC Camplight is the brainchild of 25 year old Brian Christinzio; a
truly eclectic singer/songwriter, with a sound hard to pin down.
BLINK OF A NIHILIST, the new album, shifts styles and direction all over the place, ranging from straight ahead catchy guitar pop, to lushly orchestral pomp in the blink of an eye. The most obvious comparisons seem to be bands like The Beach Boys, The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, other bands that deal in head-scratching stylistic shifts and directions. There’s also a filmic widescreen appeal here though, think John Barry by way of Henry Mancini.
Opener, the sweetly sung sky high pop of SUFFER FOR TWO soon sets the scene, Brian Christinzio crooning in a helium pitched falsetto that recalls Brian Wilson, Wayne Coyne and John Lennon all at the same time. LORD, I’VE BEEN ON FIRE is another Beach Boys inspired slice of pure pop that tugs on the heartstrings and forcefeeds you liquid sunshine whilst the cinematic WEREWOLF WALTZ sounds like the soundtrack to some sixties stylish comedy, all warped sound effects and sweeping orchestral pomposity.
Elsewhere BC Camplight keep things feather light and ultra melodic, songs such as SOY TONTO! feeling like Ben Folds raised on a strict diet of the Beach Boys, The Beatles and Burt Bacharach, innocently sweet pitch perfect pop that feels timeless, exotic and otherworldly. Of course, with all this sugar sweet pop music, BLINK OF A NIHILIST can sometimes feel a little too much at times, certain songs coming across as a touch too sweet and sugary to really hit their mark; a little restraint and subtlety would go a long way in places here.
Still, a small complaint for an album so chock full of quality pop songs and feelgood euphoria; the likes of THE HIP AND THE HOMELESS, OFFICER DOWN and album closer SCARE ME SWEETLY reminding you as to why pop music can be such unbridled joy in the right hands.
A euphoric feelgood album rammed full of brilliant sunfuelled pop tunes, BLINK OF A NIHILIST marks out BC Camplight as near essential listening.
BIOGRAPHY
BC Camplight lives in the mind of 25 year old Brian Christinzio. A mind unique to the modern songwriting world and gifted enough to create his frighteningly beautiful and humorously twisted debut record 'Hide, Run Away" (One Little Indian). Christinzio's effortlessly sweet voice leads us through the playfully self- deprecating (Couldn't YouTell, Blood and Peanut Butter), to the sensationally honest (Hide, Run Away), to the wittingly neurotic tales of love lost and sought (Emily's Dead to Me, Parapaleejo).
Christinzio, who has played piano since age four, meticulously orchestrated his debut effort by composing and arranging every note of the record as well as playing nearly every instrument himself. "If I could play drums well enough, I would have done that too, " Brian joked. His admiration for songwriters and composers such as George Gershwin, Burt Bacharach, and Todd Rundgren combined with his desire to create something equally as unique, are the foundations of his music.
"I was never the cool kid, but the cool kids liked me", says Christinzio who through most of his life has been a walking dichotomy. Captain of his High School football team and tenor in the traveling choir. Soft spoken and an amateur boxer. Shy but commanding on stage. But it was a bout with mental illness in his early twenties that would change his outlook on life completely. Dedicating himself to his craft, and never one to set modest goals, Christinzio was on a mission to make a 'perfect pop record'. "I realized that I didn't care if I or the music fit in, so I wanted to make a record that didn't take itself too seriously and was free of all the silly pretension that's so hard to avoid in music today. I wanted to change the way people felt, not the way they dressed". From his heart tugging compositions to his boisterously upbeat, synth-driven dancers, it's tough not to 'feel' BC Camplight.
BC Camplight has done something that's a little hard to comprehend.
He discovered a way to combine all of his talents by making an intelligent album, filled with complicated musical arrangements and eccentric songwriting, while still retaining its humor and modesty.
Basically, he created something that occurs maybe once a decade. He created a pop album, with a soul.
LINE UP
Brian Christinzio
Bret Tobias
Ramon Sender
Josh Olmstead
Stephanie Vernacchio
Amy Pickard
Laurie Christinzio
Amy Morrissey
Adam Hershberger
Mike Brenner
Elizabeth Kaderabek
Anthony Parollo
Debbie Nangle
Gretchen Lohse
Sean Byrne
Mike Kennedy
Adam Arcuragi
Brian Mctear
DISCOGRAPHY
HIDE, RUN AWAY (One Little Indian>2005)
Couldn't You Tell
Blood And Peanut Butter
Emily's Dead To Me
Hide, Run Away
Wouldn't Mind The Sunshine
Parapaleejo
Oranges In Winter
If You Think I Don't Mean It
La, La, La
Richard Dawson
Sleep With Your Lights On
BLINK OF A NIHILIST (One Little Indian>2007) Suffer For Two Lord, I’ve Been On Fire Werewolf Waltz Forget About Your Bones Say Tonto!
The Hip And The Homeless
The 22 Skidoo
Officer Down
Grey Young Amelia
Scare Me Sweetly
LINKS
BC Camplight>www.bccamplight.com
FURTHER LISTENING
The Beach Boys
Super Furry Animals
The Flaming Lips
Review date: May 2007 |
