way down the lights are dimmer

ooooh funky electric guitar with ominous piano chord intro wins all! * guilty pleasure*

The first thing that struck me was that this song sorta sounded very Coldplayish in terms of its ' epicness' and the singer's voice hinted at the same English drawl as Chris Martin. Plus the lyrics are equally foggily vague ( " now i'm looking out, I'm looking in/ way down the lights are dimmer" now where did that come from?). Thankfully, Thirteen Senses does not turn out as draggingly dour, perhaps because their pop sensibilities and influences like The Flaming Lips/ REM/ and such remind them to polish and add a little vibrancy to their music.

The soundscape is lush, but not too much so it escapes from degenerating into a emo forgettable mess. Though I'm not usually a massive fan of swoony piano arena rock, this song was simply too catchy and filled with so many hooks to pass up. To tell the truth, for me, the best parts of the song are the bits where there's no singing, so make of that what you will.

I discovered Thirteen Senses through the music mag Mojo, which featured an upcoming song from them ( 'Follow Me' - which is highly recommended too) on their CD of " 15 handpicked tracks of hurt, pain and despair" in celebration of Joy Division. Enjoy.

THIRTEEN SENSES - INTO THE FIRE
THIRTEEN SENSES - FOLLOW ME

check them out on myspace here.