LIGHTBULB SUN

Okay. What is this? There's something for everyone on this album: alternative, metal, psychadelia, hard rock, and just a dash of progressive rock...yes, a dash. Much of this album is not prog-related, but dang, it's good. The title track is, as Peter said, sung from the perspective of a sickly child shut up in his room watching TV in bed. It ranges from acoustic, psychadelic bliss to metal, hinting at prog at times. It's actually my favorite track on here.

Track two is "How is your life today?" a somewhat cynical short piano piece with somewhat odd lyrics and a ballad feel. It sounds like an old ballroom dance piece, a haunted ballroom, as it's played in minor key. It also features a couple harmonys in a sort of YES-like fashion, but not quite. "Four Chords that made a Million" is a plastic guitar riff-laden parody piece which sounds very good but is purposefully repetitive. The lyrics mock traditional rock stars and their pointless, artistically empty songs. Next is "Shesmovedon," an alternative/metal sounding piece with some catchy tunes in it and a guitar solo halfway through. Another somewhat standout track.

"Last Chance to Evacuate Earth..." is really in two parts. It begins with some odd acoustic guitar which sounds...like a 12-string, perhaps? I can't tell, but it has this odd sound...oh well. The lyrics are dreamy, nostalgic, and sleepy. Following is another part with a man speaking over the acoustic guitar about some weird sci-fi stuff in a stuffed- shirt manner. Weird. Next is a short, light strummer called "The Rest Will Flow." Nothing exemplary, but a nice little song.

Track eight is "Hatesong," a bass-heavy semi-prog piece with some surprisingly unhateful lyrics about a guy writing a hatesong. Okay...whatever. It stumbles along, but fails to really go anywhere. Sandwiched between this song and the next long track is "Where We Would Be," a great song, but again not standout. "Russia on Ice" is not an epic in the normal sense. It contains a lot of psychadelia, and the mood changes quite a bit, but for some reason it never becomes "epic." After some odd keyboard noises, we get to the closer "Feel So Low," an emotional but fairly simplistic downer. But good nonetheless.

There aren't really too many standout tracks in here, and the diversity of it is not instantly recognizable. It is not really prog rock, more in the alternative and psychadelic vein, but worth buying, definitely.