Lydia Band • Page 17

It’s in your blood is a top 2 song but beyond that I think PIG is better, and the gap between illuminate and PIG is way smaller than people think imo.

 

December is where I got introduced to the band & that’s such a special record for. Illuminate took it a step further.

Run Wild was the last time he released anything I liked though.

Even if it wasn’t the original band, I think Lydia would benefit from being somewhat of a band again instead of Leighton just vibing at a computer.

 

I watch his IG stories and maybe it’s just me, but it all comes off as so phony. A guy who has, not that many, monthly listens trying to sell himself as a fixer. Idk. Probably just me.

 

It does come off as cheesy, but I get it too. Dude has a young family, doesn’t wanna tour anymore, but probably wants to stay involved in music too.

For someone that likes that style of music, I’m sure his beat lab and consulting thing is worth it. Every time I see those videos though, I’m like “I would never wanna make whatever that sounds like.”

 

no mentions of the Assailants EP in here? that was very good stuff

 

I love assailants and wish it was the last release under the Lydia name.

 

All I See rework is out today. Just don’t think this album is for me. Sounds like a mess to my ears. Just throw a bunch of layers and noises in.

 

I always give Leighton the benefit of the doubt, cheer him on, and want to see him succeed


but holy shit this version of All I See is trash and he really needed someone to tell him that. This song means SO much to me and this is just not it.

 

yeah. a completely useless endeavor and a pretty huge miss.

 

I like a lot of their newer stuff but these new versions makes me appreciate how beautiful the original is they really captured musically the loss of a relationship the feeling

 

Woof. Made it 10 seconds and had to stop. Kinda surprised he didn't autotune his voice in that.

 

Yeah, pretty much this.

Lydia means a lot to me, and Illuminate is the soundtrack to a very particular chapter in my life. If this All I See 'version' is anything to go by, I really wish he would have not.

Maybe, just maybe one day we get another Lydia release worthy of the name. But this certainly isn't it.

 

What are people's opinions on The Cinema?

 

Loved the first album when it came out - that was prime time for Lydia being essentially my favorite band and since I was processing the "end" of the band the year before, I was ready for anything the members were involved with.

However, I don't think it really holds up compared to other things he has done at this point and I never revisit it. It's a cool thing that happened but unfortunately I think it was kinda when Leighton's vocal melodies and lyrics started taking a turn for the less-inspired.

Second album did absolutely nothing for me, but side note, what is Matt Malpass up to these days? He produced some of my favorite albums of all time but I haven't seen his name on anything in my sphere for a while, but that's probably on me.

 

i adore the first cinema record.

 

As a big indietronica fan, that first The Cinema album was one of my gateways into the poppier side of that genre. Loved the cinematic feel and the use of samples here and there. Some of the songs could've been indie pop hits in another timeline.
Don't remember the second one so I'll have to fix that.

 

A good album/project that also marked the beginning of the end for Leighton’s songwriting abilities. While the first one isn’t bad, he traded in creativity for polish and Lydia hasn’t been the same since.

 

I heard the first singles and thought something along the lines "oh, nobody needs that" hahh, and I still feel like the opposite would be far more appreciated (meaning new material with the old Illuminate/Assailants sound). But that's long gone. I'm now listening to the whole "She Saved Me" version, and it's weird - but if I ever get used to it - it might still be fun to check out these renditions from time to time, get some different elements to stand out on headphones. It's 4am now, so we'll see what my thoughts are gonna be like tomorrow (and after I'm finished with the whole release, I'm only in the middle currently)

 

Much like the This December lofi whatever, I'm probably never going to listen to this again. Part of me respects the experimentation on a lot of the songs, but...why not just make new songs from those ideas instead?

I hope it brings Leighton money and success or whatever, but I also really hope that I enjoy the next thing he puts time into a lot more than this.

but it's probably gonna be Assailants (Changing Faces)

edit: just got to Stay Awake, and if the entire album was arranged like this, it would have been 100x better to me. Easily the best track on here, but WHY did he cut the bridge?

 

I finished it at night and already made my mind up I'm probably not returning to this, maybe once or twice, but well, I did not really need that as a matter of fact... I second that I respect some of the experimentation and I wish Leighton all the best, I'll just definitely prefer to spend my future time with the original version

 

This is the rare album that genuinely had nothing in it for me. My one playthrough was just frustrating. There were a couple songs that I was completely indifferent on, like they were nice but wouldn't go back to them. Those were the highlights. The rest was either just not enjoyable for me, or I'd be actually kind of into like a section or two of the song, but then another part would take me so out of it that I'd just be like "Huh? What happened?" I genuinely enjoyed the This December re-recording, and I've liked at least a few songs on every Lydia album thus far. But I think a mixture of this being their most loved record (my favorite for sure), and it being filled with very questionable choices for the direction (or perhaps more accurately, the seeming lack of direction), makes it easily my least favorite thing Leighton has ever done. I really don't see myself tanking another play on this one. Might genuinely HAVE TO listen to the original today to detox.

 

yeah, not even gonna attempt this remake after those singles. they were traumatically bad

 

I had no idea about this project, hit play to see ... and ... I feel like there's a story about what happened here that I don't understand? What is this? Why?

 

Illuminate 2: The Search for More Money

 

This is the only commentary that this release really needs. One word captures my every feeling after listening through.