can i just be another risk you're running

I didn’t really know what to expect when I received Straylight Run's The Needles, The Space in the mail on Monday morning. Aside from the new single, "Soon We’ll Be Living In The Future", I haven’t really heard any new Straylight Run materials since their self-title album back in 2004. After listening to The Needles, The Space for the past few days, I strongly feel that it is an overall more solid record than Straylight Run. Unlike their former album (which had a handful of highlights but the overall album felt a little empty), most of the tracks on the new record fit wonderfully together and they work excellently with each others. Perhaps one of my favourite elements on The Needles, The Space is the lovely balance of vocal duties between John and Michelle Nolan. The contrast of their voices from track to track creates a sense of flow and movement. Michelle Nolan’s pretty, but at the same time haunting vocal strangely fits perfectly with the joyful sounding music in "The Miracle That Never Came" while John Nolan’s quiet and humble voice will sure make "Buttoned Down" a fans’ favourite. Their contrasting vocals on "Take It To Manhattan" interplay with one another to generate a grand volume. The production on The Needles, The Space is superb as well! The record is full of fantastic layers right from "The Words We Say" as the xylophone notes give the track extra textures. After listening to The Needles, The Space, I thought that Straylight Run has changed a great deal. Yes, they are a much better sounding band and the new album is a definite improvement from their self-titled debut. Nevertheless, aside from the terrific production and increased vocal contribution from Michelle Nolan, Straylight Run’s style reminds similar: they are still very emotionally charged and truthfully genuine in their songs.

Sorry, I cannot share/upload tracks from The Needles, The Space at the moment, but you can watch the brand new video for "Soon We Will Be Living In the Future" below.


The Needles, The Space comes out on June 19
you can pre-order it from Newbury Comics and receive an autographed CD booklet
or pre-order it from SmartPunk and receive a free vinyl version