Lights – Saviour
Anyway – enough grousing, time for THREE CANADIANS IN A ROW, starting with a keytar-wielding teen…

[Video][Myspace]
[4.73]
Matt Cibula: Only later, as a bare-breasted Lights Poxleitner waved the red flag of anarcho-socialism over the burning remains of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, did we remember that she had warned us all back in 2009. “Saviour” was the first warning shot across the bow of western civilization…and we were too stupid to realize it at the time.
[5]
Alex Ostroff:It pains me that this is the first taste the Jukebox is getting of Lights, who has been floating around Canada for the better part of a year releasing energetically angular and surprisingly affecting gems of electropop off her 2008 EP. “Saviour” is good, and representative of her wordy, epically ethereal, 80s-tinged style, but she’s needlessly Autotuned here, sapping her voice of its natural expressiveness, and in need of a stronger hook.
[8]
Chuck Eddy: Indie electro-dribble tweeted in an infantilized girlie whimper, turning confessionally quasi-Christian (or real Christian, maybe) as it gains ground. Amazingly, it doesn’t absolutely stink.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Come on people, it’s a woman playing a key-tar and singing like she’s either very simple or about 6 years old, what’s not to like?
[7]
Michaelangelo Matos: Oh great: ugly compressed sudden-volume-jump chorus and gratuitous Autotune meets Canadian twee-dink-pop. No wonder they have socialized medicine up there.
[3]
Kat Stevens: In places Lights’ voice reminds me of a young Britney Spears (before Britters got all breathless and slurred), but it lacks that gritted determination to Succeed At All Costs.
[6]
Ian Mathers: This might have been true even without the garish AutoTune, but her voice is just so determinedly ‘cute’ that it’s terribly grating. And her backing shrieks near the end are genuinely unpleasant. Maybe if the lyrics were better or the instrumentation more interesting I could overlook all that, but as it is this is one step up from Owl City.
[2]
Martin Skidmore: There’s a moment as she enters the first chorus where I thought this twee little synthy pop number was going to explode into life, but it stays where it is, plinking along. A big house remix could be good, but as it is it seems like just another female pop singer-songwriter of no great interest.
[4]
John Seroff: When the perhaps unavoidable Breakfast Club sequel rears its head, this will slot nicely for the emotional scene where the pierced riot grrrl outcast tenderly embraces the closeted cheerleader. For day-to-day listening though, this is irritatingly bland. Kewpie doll vocals, bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup phrasing and egregious overuse of autotune were all used to greater effect on Armageddon.
[3]
Martin Kavka: Upon the discovery that this woman has legally changed her first name to “Lights,” one might start to make jokes about her (or her siblings, Camera and Action). “Saviour” doesn’t really stymie such assholish behavior — in part because the video opens with a scene of her writing the song on her keytar — but in the larger scheme of stream-of-consciousness singer-songwriter-with-issues territory, this is by no means bad.
[5]
Anthony Miccio: Recommended to those who wish t.A.T.u. had been more reasonable.
[5]
What! How could this be lower than a 6? I don’t think her voice is deliberately, annoyingly cute, it’s just a little bit shit and lacking. Which works when you twist a few knobs and put it on top of a sweet, swirling chorus which seems to come a little sooner than expected each time (= more sugar goodness).
Word to Alex O’s love of “February Air.”
Yeah. I most definitely overrated this. On reflection, it’s probably no more than a [6] or maybe a [7] but I dug the EP and her eagerness-to-charm live so much that I wanted people to give her a second glance in spite of Saviour lackluster nature.
The whole debut EP is pretty sweet, even if the first half is far stronger. Drive My Soul was a favourite for a while, but overexposure on Canadian radio led to burnout.
February Air is sublime (tho).
I just wish people would stop comparing her to Bjork…which is an insult to Bjork. She does not have the vocal range or imagination of Bjork….enough! She’s more like Ashlee Simpson…
She’s more like Ashlee Simpson…
OH NO YOU DIDN’T. Anyway, she doesn’t sound anything like Bjork or Ashlee. She sounds like Angelica from “Rugrats.” Or the way my friend’s roommate talks to their cat. “C’mere, Jesus! Awwwww, whatta cutey sweetie honey…”
P.S. I live near her & have bumped into her on the subway….not too friendly….
Auto-Tween.
[…] Ready for the Weekend [7] Mos Wanted Mega ft. Janee – Touch My [6] Sugababes – Get Sexy [4] Lights – Saviour [8] Fefe Dobson – I Want You [7] Metric – Help I’m Alive [7] Madonna – […]
Let’s review: she collects swords (& has one tatooed on her arm); she lives with a tarantula; she plays video wargames….anger issues? Canada’s sweetheart?
Whether or not you like her music, what’s the point of bashing her?
…I think she’s unique… I have not personally met her.. But her music never leaves me with a sad face or feeling any bad emotions… If anything I feel motivated