Pale Lights

Séance for Something EP

Mother Cries
Girl In The Park
Alone In This Room
Sweetheart

Recorded and mixed by Gary Olson at Marlborough Farms studios, Brooklyn, Spring
2016. Mastered by Ron Harrity at Peapod Recordings, Portland,

Pale Lights on these recordings are

Philip Sutton: guitars, vocals
Andy Adler: lead guitars
Maria Pace: bass guitars
Lisa Goldstein: drums
Suzanne Nienaber: vocals

Keyboards and saxophone played by Kyle Forester
Piano on Mother Cries by Gary Olson
Thanks to Hamish Kilgour for the tambourine on Mother Cries.
Sleeve art by Kevin Alvir.

Mother Cries is not her crying tears.

All songs written by Philip Sutton ©
CAL006
Calico Cat Records 2016 ©

Buy overseas:

Hands and Arms, Paris: www.handsandarms.com/en/indie-pop/8579-pale-lights-cdep-seance-for-something.html

Norman Records, Leeds, UK: www.normanrecords.com/records/159791-pale-lights-seance-for-something-

Reviews...

"Now on secret or kind of secret news, I had the chance to hear the new EP by fellow New Yorkers Pale Lights. It’s called “Seánce for Something” and it’s coming out on May 23rd. I’m not a hundred percent what format it will be released, I’m guessing as a 7″. I hope so at least. The band is still working on their 2nd LP, and if it’s anything like the beauty I hear on this EP, well, it might be a contender for best album for the year, whatever year it is going to be released. There are four songs in this EP, “Mother Cries”, “Girl in the Park”, “Alone in this Room” and “Sweetheart”. It feels like the sound of the band has gotten more and more layers. And I really enjoy the girl backing vocals in the songs. I think the band is growing better and better!!"
Roque Ruiz, Cloudberry, May 2016
www.cloudberryrecords.com/blog/?p=3031#comment-287323

"Those living in the indiepop realm should have known this was coming. Pale Lights have been hinting at new music for some time via their social media outlets, and it’s finally here…thank goodness. I tried to pick a favorite song to put out there, but it’s changed every time I listen to the tracks. “Mother Cries” sounds like early psychedelic pop from the late 60s, while “Alone in this Room” rings of the more modern indie fare I adore. Each track is great, and fulfills on the promise the group displayed in their Before There Were Pictures LP from 2014. "
Nathan Lankford, Austin Town Hall, May 2016
austintownhall.com/2016/05/16/pale-lights-are-back-with-new-ep/

A Pale Lights release is a cause for celebration. Their previous full album was released nearly two years ago (the nearly flawless “Before There Were Pictures). Now comes Séance For Something EP (CD only). The guitars are certainly a bit crunchier than before.

But make no mistake, this still has a great Felt, Lloyd Cole and The Bats feel (think of the jangly guitar solos in the background). “Alone in This Room” has backing vocals reminiscent of fantastic 70s AOR.
Snooping the Bandcamp
bandcampsnoop.tumblr.com

One of my top discoveries of 2014 was Brooklyn's Pale Lights, and their LP from that year, Before There Were Pictures, was on of my top thirty albums of 2014 (link). What makes that band so special? In my view they craft perfect guitar pop/jangle pop that touch on the best influences without mere imitation. The hooks are plentiful, the vocals robust and the sound has the polish of the guitar pop bands whose work lingers longest in the memory of fans, such as Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Go-Betweens and Orange Juice. And with that background, I'm happy to report that the band is preparing a new album, and even happier that because they know how impatient we are, they have released a four-song EP to keep us satisfied until the LP is ready.

Titled Seance For Something, the record has four varied pop gems that demonstrate the crew's mastery of guitar pop. The opening "Mother Cries" evokes The Bats and Rattlesnakes-era Lloyd Cole, in the latter instance due in no small part to frontman and songwriter Phil Sutton's vocal similarities to Mr. Cole. I think it is the best song on the EP, but the points are close on my scorecard. The following "Girl In The Park" and "Alone In This Room" bring to mind the heart-tugging and bittersweet gems from The Go-Betweens and The Lucksmiths. The EP closes with "Sweetheart", which sounds like The Bats with an added element of '60s California country rock. The songs are substantial and varied, and show Pale Lights to be one of the top level guitar pop bands on the scene.
When You Motor Away...
whenyoumotoraway.blogspot.com/2016/05/pale-lights-seance-for-something.html

Another release that’s been furiously adoring about in our sound space since appearing on our radar yesterday evening is this quite affectionately infectious four track treat from Pale Lights who I’m prone to adamantly swear we’ve featured in passing in previous postings, yet can we find the relevant credits. What we love about the ‘séance for something’ EP is that it appears to be singing from a different musical sheet from everyone else, at its core a smoking cool craft hued in hushed harmonies, the delicate deft ghosting of melodies fermented in a breezy countrified vintage and an ear candy radiance that nods to a song writing golden age. Peppered here in the honeycombed alchemy amid the sun fried chime of jangling riff chimes caresses an oddly familiar and timeless turn of pop phrasing that sparkles with subtle 60’s overtones that are bubble grooved in the feint likeness of MOR dialects and the subtle flash of soft psych washes evidence of such indelibly book ended by the opening ‘mother cries’ and the closing ‘sweetheart’ – the former draped and drenched in an effervescent west coast visioning all breezily purred in Byrds-esque motifs coolly kissed in Will Sergeant styled riff opines, the latter a Meek-esque strut cut beauty refined and flavoured in twanging flotillas that shimmer tones and echoes to the Pirates and Del Shannon. Elsewhere there’s the mournful ‘alone in this room’ that’s guaranteed to tug the heart strings spun as it is by the same mercurial out of step grooving of Rob Clarke and the Wooltones. All said favoured moment of the set is the Shannon-esque ‘girl in the park’ as it cuts to the quick tempered by smoking cool country purrs and the quivering glare of ghosting gunslingers shot down by the arrow of love.
The Sunday Experience
marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/page/3/?app-download=ios

Home
¡Vuelven (The) Pale Lights! ¡Estupendo, estupendo, estupendo! El cuarteto conformado por Philip Sutton (vocalista y compositor principal del grupo), Andy Adler, Maria Pace y Lisa Goldstein (chica a la batería: si es que no se puede molar más) vuelven a la carga cuando apenas hemos terminado de maravillarnos con las canciones del soberbio “Before There Were Pictures“, y he aquí que ponen en circulación un EP titulado “Séance For Something“: cuatro canciones nuevecitas y radiantes que entusiasmarán, seguro, a todos los que disfrutaron con el jangle-pop de los neoyorquinos en su debut en largo. El tracklist es el que sigue:

“Mother Cries”
“Girl In The Park”
“Alone In This Room”
“Sweetheart”

y la producción, una vez más, vuelve a estar en manos de -The Ladybug Transistor, ahí es nada- Gary Olson. Y si ya nos gustaban los Pale Ligths, ahora diría que nos van a gustar aún más: a las exquisitas guitarras y las maravillosas melodías se agregan detalles como los de este saxo que vais a escuchar en “Sweetheart“, quizás mi favorita del lote. ¡Qué cosa más fabulosa, ese saxo! ¡Qué corto se me hace lo de este EP, que llegue ya el segundo disco! ¡Cómo va a gustar esto que sigue a los fans de The Bats, de Felt, de Orange Juice, de The Go-Betweens, de todas esas bandas de las que (aún) se habla mucho menos de lo que merecen!
Sr. Helvetica / The Songs We Love