They may hail from "New Hampshire," but
Wild Light's hearts -- and sound -- belong to California.
Adult Nights' earnest, ever so slightly bittersweet guitar pop feels descended from generations of Californian bands: echoes of the
Beach Boys' harmonies and backing vocals,
Weezer's crunchy guitars and vulnerable lyrics, and
Rooney and
Phantom Planet's sun-dappled hooks pop up throughout
Adult Nights. Though
Wild Light doesn't add anything radically new to this tradition, they uphold it with charm, particularly on the songs that use the Golden State as their muse. "California on My Mind" outlines the band's love-hate relationship with the state with enough winsome jangle to be the theme song for the next teen soap opera set in Cali, and "Surf Generation" layers on the reverb and sleigh bells in service of "operation surfboard."
Wild Light gets more heartfelt when their songs hit closer to home, as on "New Hampshire" and "Call Home,"
Adult Nights' stand-out ballad. Whether they're singing about California or New Hampshire, or somewhere in between,
Wild Light knows their way around a pop song, from "My Father Was a Horse"'s irrepressible choruses to the way the "whoo whoo" backing vocals propel "Canyon City"'s new wave sheen to slicker heights. At their best ("Heart Attack"), the band's classicism sounds instantly familiar and comfortably worn-in; when they're less inspired ("Future Homes," "New Year's Eve"), it sounds more than a little predictable. Regardless,
Adult Nights is an engaging debut from a band that wears its sunny California influences as well as if they were born and bred there. ~ Heather Phares