Lightning Love - November Birthday (2008)

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On Lightning Love’s debut disc, November Birthday, the Ypsilanti-based band combine sweet, childish sounds with themes about growing up and growing pains. This subject is laid bare right at the beginning on opener on “Work Today”, when singer Leah Diehl, accompanied only by some lonely keyboards, dreads the thought of going to work and admits she still needs someone to pick up after her. The song seamlessly blends into a slice of bouncy bubble-gum called “Everyone I Know”, where she lampoons the boring adults around her for all being “no good at nothing at all”. It’d be almost Holden Caulfield-esque if Diehl weren’t so likeable.

Comparisons to Ann Arbor’s Charlie Slick– who Lightning Love shared a bill with for their CD release show– are sure to abound, with Lightning Love attempting a similar take on minimalist 80’s-style electro-dance on a few songs like “Girls Are Always Wrong” and especially the fake-handclap driven “Boys Who Are Taken”. And while Charlie Slick and Lightning Love both take on the themes of growing up on their latest records, ultimately Lightning Love do so in a much more sweeter way, with an emphasis on slower, faux piano-heavy instrumentation.

A couple songs are even boosted by some cello and accordion accompaniment. November Birthday isn’t all adulthood resistance, however. Despite the backlash at the record’s beginning, when Diehl sings about staying out late and smoking cigarettes on “I Think We’re Alright” you almost wonder if you should call her parents and tell on her– that is, if the way she sang it didn’t make it sound so fun. MOTORCITYROCKS