Headlights
Kill Them With Kindness
Polyvinyl Records

Ahhh… summer. The time of year when the sun is up for 15 hours a day at least. When jockey high school boys are constantly outside playing basketball with their shirts off. When neighbors sit together on their porches in conversation, drinking beer . When things finally start picking up again in the National Football League.

In my childhood, summer was one of my favorite times of year. Now in my young adult life, it is one of my least favorites (I hate sweating). This particular one I’ve been thinking a lot about the summers of lore, when I would shoot hoops and play catch with my brother or my myriad of neighbor friends. When we would go on bike rides through the park. When we would be at football practice five times a week the last three weeks in August.

I’ll wait and let the imagery set in before I move on.

I am insane in the way that I have a specific memory attached to every single album in my collection. I don’t know if that really makes me insane, for all I know, it could be quite normal. But I feel insane for it. Anywho, Kill Them With Kindness, the debut LP from Polyvinyl Record Co. pop darlings Headlights, is now attached to the reminiscing of the very memories I was describing above. I’m sitting here listening to it for the sixth or seventh time, and all I can think about are those mid-90s summers.

Headlights play the perfect music for this time of year, but I hesitate to say that Killing Them With Kindness is a typical summer pop album. It’s deeper than that. There is a lot going on in the songs instrumentally and metaphorically. For example, the first song is called “Your Old Street,” which is extremely appropriate, because that’s exactly what it made me think about. It starts like a typical summer morning would back in 1996 here on Commonwealth Street. It takes you a little bit to wake up, to come to life. Once you’re downstairs, you’re seated in front of the television, chowing down some Cheerios, watching repeats of ESPN Sportscenter. By 10:00 AM (or 2:25 in this songs’s case), you’re out riding bikes with your best buds, or pretending you’re fighting the nemesis that is Apocolypse, or playing street ball (of any kind, really). I guess you’d have to (1) hear the song and (2) have lived my childhood to know exactly what I’m talking about. But I hope you get the picture, because if you don’t, then this review sucks.

The variety and unpredictability that consumed those summers also is a factor in making this record stand out above the heap of sugary pop music. Yes, in its entirety, it is a pop record that I like to imagine was created specifically for humid, sunny days. But each song is like a different type of cereal. The first half of the album represents your unhealthy, chocolaty or marshmallowy ones. Not in the way that they’re not necessarily good for you, but in that they just taste so darn swell! You know, like the kids’ favorites, and in this moment I’m a pure child. “Put Us Back Together Right” is my Lucky Charms, with its sweet harmonies, full piano, and new wave synth. “TV” is a bit more like Cocoa Crispies. Not as obnoxious or hard to chew on like Cocoa Puffs, but tasty and chocolaty enough to make me go mmmmm… Though both songs can be described in the same way, trust me, they are different.

The second half of the album is more like your healthy cereals. Your Rice Chex, Raisin Bran, and Blueberry Morning. All of them good cereals, but for the ultimate taste, sugar needs to be added. Unfortunately this is the case here. These songs are pretty good and equally as interesting as the first half in instrumentation (synthesizers, piano, glockenspeil in addition to guitars and drums). But the melodies just aren’t there for some reason. The band just needed to sprinkle a little more of their magic, or sugar if you will, on these tunes. This trail off does come to an end as a beautiful lull with the keyboard and vocals only “I Love, You Laugh.” And if you’re wondering where the cereal comparison came from, summer was the only time I would eat breakfast consistantly.

All in all, Kill Them With Kindness is a smart, expansive set of indie pop songs, not too unlike the band Stars. Perfect for reminiscing about a summer when Michael Jordan was making a fool of himself trying to play baseball.

MP3
TV

Websites
http://www.headlightsmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/headlights
http://www.polyvinylrecords.com