The Lightning Kids - All Those Nights
Review by Karl Magi
Overall Album Impressions
The Lightning Kids’ All Of Those Nights binds together mingled nostalgia, hope, passion and melancholy in a potent synthpop brew. I find myself touched and moved by the emotional power of the music as it weaves together threads of synth, guitar and vocal melody.
Direct and expressive songwriting make All Of Those Nights stand out for me. Emma Ballantine and Jonny Spalding are the band’s songwriters and they words they craft are clear, emotive and deliver a strong dose of feeling and heart as they move through the music. I was drawn in by the stories told in the songs.
Emma Ballantine’s voice is another strong aspect of All Of Those Nights. She is able to fill her vocal performances with passion, emotion and energy. I like the way in which she can airily glide or let her voice rise with power as required. I also find Darren McHardie’s guitar performances add richness and depth to the album.
A synth tapestry effectively backs up the strong singing, songwriting and guitar performances. The ways in which the synths interact and create varied tones, sonic textures and instrumental timbres skilfully adds more layered, nuanced sound to the overall package.
My Favourite Songs Analyzed
"Fast Car” comes to life with crackling static, washing water and a radio scanning between stations. Rounded, delicate synth glides in calming, lightly touching waves as solidly pounding retro drums and oscillating bass guide the music. Emma Ballantine's voice is wonderfully tender and airy, carrying an affectionate and heartwarming melody.
Glowing synth swirls around Emma Ballantine's voice as it combines power and emotion. A gently pulsing beat swells behind Emma Ballantine's spoken word monologue and again to push the track on. Pastel hued synths entangle and the vocals ache with passion and remembrance. The sounds of gentle rain and the full, gleaming synth rising and fading.
Driving all night to leave their town, our narrator talks about how “the stars are out, the music’s up, the windows down.” The two of them are “fire now” as the narrator says they’re 17 in their minds, “a teenage crush.” She mentions the wind in their hair and the “instant rush.” The storyteller says “gotta take me there, just drive me in your car.” She asks the other person to drive her “oh so fast” and ends the song by saying that they’ll never be apart.
A synth choir rises in shining tendrils as the drumbeat grows into the music, rapidly driving to open “Ride.” Leaping, bright synth forms an energizing melodic pattern as Emma Ballantine's breathy, expressive voice carries a melody brimming with uplifting feelings. A tangling, glittering synth accent doubles the drum and bass pulse.
The shining synth melody has an angular quality as Darren McHardie’s strumming acoustic guitar effectively adds a more organic feeling as Emma Ballantine’s voice exudes emotion.
An undulating, nasal-sounding synth pattern is cut by shimmering metallic chimes followed by an electric guitar singing a melody that hurts and aspires as jangling, rounded synth arpeggiates.
Driving into the darkness is where our narrator finds herself, riding next to the song’s subject as they “drive through the night, like we used to do.” They’re speeding but nobody can see them so “this night is for you and me.”
As they drive in the night, their headlights are on the sea. The narrator speaks of “shadows in the night, where you used to be.” She says she’s a bit lost and “running on memories.” The storyteller only imagines that the other person is with her as she out on the road.
“California” starts off as a phone rings and broadly glittering arpeggios flow. A rebounding, dynamic beat explodes along with throbbing bass that drives the music. Emma Ballantine's voice is pleasingly warm and full of dreaming as quick synth flashes in with sunny light.
Emma Ballantine’s voice carries a melancholy melody leavened with optimism. Quick synth sparkles ripple while hard-hitting drums and active bass shift. The chorus is full of tender light and massive drums pound as sparkles flit through the music. Emma Ballantine's voice cascades above the glimmering synth as it trickles through and silence falls.
Our storyteller asks the song’s subject to shut their eyes and tell her something “just like when we were young.” She adds to say that she hasn’t seen the sun since the other person left California. Instead she’s been “killing time, filling up my mind” as she considers what the song’s subject said.
Now the narrator explains that she’s been “down every road in town, trying to get you outta my head.” The song ends on an answering machine message telling the other person that she misses them and wants them to call her at some point.
Waves splash while crystalline chimes rapidly shine and electric guitar flares to open “Cool.” Emma Ballantine's voice carries a dynamic melody and funky guitar strums in. Lightly tapping drums guide the music along with rich bass. The lead synth is elevated and shiny as it flutters and Emma Ballantine's lush voice carries a passionate, life-filled melody.
The guitar strums in while full, low synth adds deep resonance and the drums and bass drive. Darren McHardie’s intricate, jazz-inflected guitar solo twirls and floats out, played with skill. while Raised synth radiates above energetically bursting drums and bass as Emma Ballantine's strong voice repeats and silence falls.
Every Friday night our narrator goes dancing and spots the song’s subject “in the corner, underneath the lights.” When she gets close to the other person, she says her heart stops beating, it’s like “my 808 repeating 1982.”
She goes on to say “baby, you’re so cool” and adds that when the other person looks at her “darling it’s so cruel.” It is between them and no one else can see. Now our storyteller talks about going driving late at night and being transported in time “when I see you in the window.”
As the song ends, our narrator talks about her heartbeat stopping when they’re close and “my head it is reeling by everything you do. “
“Closer” commences as pastel background sounds are touched by glistening chimes. An echoing vocal sound calls out as trembling notes shift. Now the drumbeat throbs actively and chimes twinkle delicately as the two singers’ voices interlock and flow out.
Now vocals rise in a shining cloud above the driving drumbeat and solid bass as metallic, glowing synth notes ring out. I enjoy the way in which our two singers mingle their strong voices in a hopeful melody as wide-open, floating synth calls out.
The song’s drum and bass heartbeat throbs on to shape the music. Both singers pour feeling into their voices as rapid synth notes flicker and open voiced synth cries out airily. Trembling synth oscillates and the drums pulse on.
The narrators speak in unison asking if they each got a little closer to one another. They both ask if “all of those nights I lay by your side” brought them a bit closer together. The two of them speak about how “I get a little older when you put your head on my shoulder.”
They wonder if all the nights on which each the other’s light it brought them “a little closer.” Both them wonder if after all of their “dancing, walking, crying and laughing” along with all of the chances they used, they ever got to one another.
Slowly bending synth flows and Emma Ballantine's lush, airy voice carries a hurting melody to open “Magnets.” Hollow background synth tumbles through while mournful feelings permeate the song and low bass throbs. Emma Ballantine’s voice is full of deep feeling as it carries the fragile melody.
Bass rebounds and guitar unfurls in warm, resonant lines as loss fills the vocals. I enjoy Emma Ballantine’s touching expression as Darren McHardie’s guitar carries a tender melodic pattern. The gentle background throb pulses onward and the reverent synths climb and glow with light before ending on a flowing synth.
“Close your eyes and count to ten” is what our narrator wants the song’s subject to do, along with taking a breath before talking again. She says that all they do is scream at each other as “this love has turned us inside out.” The narrator can’t stop herself from doubting and adds that “forces that we can’t see” are in action on them both.
The storyteller speaks of bruises on her heart that make her feel unable to breathe. They are like magnets that repel and attract and “we clash until we’re black and blue.” Her bad habits pull her back to the song’s subject “like gravity.”
Now she wants to return to the time they met as “strangers playing hard to get.” The blood rushing in her veins takes her over once more. She concludes by saying “Here I go again, I can’t stay away. Here we go again, hold me like back then.”
“All Of Those Nights” is a stripped down variation on “Closer” with the lyrics and melody at the forefront to showcase caressing sound and delicacy. Rising synths run together to create a soothing, settling musical environment for the full richness and depth of Emma Ballantine's voice to be captured.
The stripped down nature of the music allows the emotional expression to show through without too much adornment. The open-voiced, slowly flowing synth has a mournful feeling and the whole song is full of melancholy and tremulous feelings.
Medium-low, hazily shining synth waves lap against the smoky warmth of Emma Ballantine's voice to begin “Motel.” The vocal melody has a pained quality to it as the guitar briefly touches the music. Emma Ballantine's voice fills the song with intensity as softly lapping synth waves move along with the floating, fading guitar.
Soft tambourine sounds touch the music and over it all, the vocals effectively capture the expression in the lyrics with honesty. The background sounds are tinged with light.
Drums shape and drive the music, adding life and motion below Emma Ballantine's voice. The guitar ripples and intertwines before the song moves back into the gentler segment and the drumbeat kicks in again. The guitar sings out to capture more emotion before fading on synth whorls.
The storyteller muses that she’s unsure of what drew her to her current place but says it is some sort of crisis. She’s unsure if she could “be anyone (or) do anything” where she is. Our narrator goes on to say that she doesn’t dance but “I heard a beat, had to move my body, move my feet.” In that moment, she freed herself and was another person.
Now the narrator finds herself in an old motel, near to the city. It is a “tiny room with a single bed.” It’s a room that has no view which is “the perfect place to forget you.” She locks her door and points out that she wants to get back “before the night comes down” as she doesn’t know that town.
Our storyteller says that “they could do anything here” and she trusts no one, However one night she went out and “fell into a stranger’s bed.” As the song ends, she points out that it isn’t like her and “it was therapy and I was free.”
Conclusion
All Those Nights is an ear-pleasing synthpop voyage that manages to create nostalgia without relying on clichéd ‘80s tropes. There’s an emotional power and expressive strength to the album that allows it to explore the fractured terrain of the human heart effectively.
