Take everything good about 80's pop music - Fleetwood Mac, reverb overload, cassette tapes blasting in a red Camaro. Let it ferment twenty years, and what do you get? Francis and the Lights.
This band, formed by two Wesleyan alums, is reawakening the sound of a late-- but great pop movement. Obvious influences like Steely Dan and Phil Collins seep through the sound of Francis and Lights. The synthetic bass of "Knees to the Floor" or "Tap the Phone" feels directly influenced by Bowie's "Under Pressure" and Prince's "I Wanna be your Lover". Francis and the Lights pays homage to a dead era of jean jackets and Footloose; you can't help but feel good when you listen this music.
The band is also moving 21st century pop music in a new direction; rarely heard or appreciated on a mass scale before. They are even going on tour with Ke$sha in a few weeks (if you can stand her talk-singing I recommend getting tickets). Whether you consider Francis and the Lights to be nothing more than an 80's tribute band or the defining musicians of a neo-pop, 21st century song movement, take a listen to their album It'll Be Better. You'll be honored to say, "I was born in the 80's".
Where am I listening: Besides their live concert this Friday, 12pm at the Mercury Lounge, I am here: Driving to Chatham in a jeep. Windows down. Feeling unbelievable.
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