Slow Dancing Society 'Under the Sodium Lights' – Sonomu

Excerpt: “Sodium gas lights cause less light pollution but cast an orange pall over the urban spaces they most commonly illuminate. They began to be installed, particulary along highways, in the 1970s. Ultimately, this is album is one great big love letter, as almost each track title bears out. ”The Song in Your Eyes” begins as dreamily as expected, pulsing gently before turning downright seductive with a purred female ”everything is alright, we´re together now”. ”Laura´s Dream” conjures a visual rendition of the album´s title – I see a highway interchange, freshly-paved and cross-hatched with overpasses, and I see two dancers taking possession of it long past midnight, staring into each other´s eyes, wrapped in that eerie amber haze, their shadowplay conveyed by Drew Sullivan´s guitar. This guitar is indeed the centrepiece of Under the Sodium Lights, and the Spokane native handles each note distinctly and confidently, saying only as much as need be said, but saying it with authority, creating depth, closeness and distance. It contrasts starkly and perfectly with the ambient fog in which he wraps it. My only gripe is with the crackling which mars the otherwise sweet and sad closer, ”Love is On the Way”. You´ve got to love the humility of the man, who thanks his fans for ”justifying” a fourth album. And the fourth certainly justifies a fifth.”

Sonomu