There’s just something hypnotic about Big Deal’s bitter sweet sound and new album, Lights Out, brings out that duet with rich tones and weaving shorelines. Though the sound veers closer to sweet than bitter on the whole, the boy girl duo of Alice Costelloe and Kacey Underwood makes it stick.
Opening track, Distant Neighbour, combines Costelloe’s beautiful vocals with Underwood’s understated backdrop. The mix of semi-shimmered acoustic guitar with fuzzy, distorted electric intertwine to make it easy to get lost in.
Chair is stripped back with tender tones and heavier interludes of crunching, fuzzed electricity that builds as the song unfolds. Though the album on the whole has a bedroom recording quality to it, nowhere is that more distinct than on Chair.
The ukulele (apparently not!) gets an outing initially on Cool Like Kurt. It’s got a real naivety to it, both in the title of the song and the lyrics, taking you back to a 90s youth with slow delusions of seduction and grunge.
Swoon is a slow Sunday morning love song, but it’s not as hypnotising as earlier tracks. Homework is simple teenage angst with a lullaby feel, continuing the beauty in sound air of the album.
However, Talk returns to more of a bitter sweet equilibrium with a bit of strength in the guitar arm of Costelloe’s electric and a bitten nature to the lyrics. With the World at My Feet is a dreamer with a distorted guitar, but it lacks the edge to make it gripping.
A slow distortion prevails on Locked Up with shoe-gazer undertones. It confirms the reality that there’s no party spirit on Lights Out, but a darkly beautiful storyline. It’s a spirit that continues on the duet of Summer Cold with a deep blue riff running through it.
Visions is a great alt-rock duet with dipping intonation in the vocals during the chorus. Definitely a contender for track of the album. However, Seraphine starts out dull and the introduction of Costelloe’s vocals don’t lift it much beyond that.
Final track, Pi, is a bit too tranquil, returning to the lullaby, but it’s a pretty relaxing end to the album.
Though there’s a fair bit of melodrama to Big Deal’s Lights Out, there’s also an entrancing layer of innocence, romance and dark day storylines. Genuinely seductive vocals go hand in hand with a fuzzy distorted electric and shimmering acoustic combination at its best.
Big Deal, Lights Out album review: 3.8/5
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