Glimpse of Light

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Findlay Brown has worked and toured with some of the bigger names in pop music, including Taylor Swift and Lily Allen. Following 2007’s Separated by the Sea and 2010’s Love Will Find You, his latest—Slow Light—is an eclectic collection of songs, making the ten tracks a quick and largely ambiguous listen.

Brown weaves elements of country, ambient, folk and pop into Slow Light. Opener “Run Home” recalls early Ryan Adams before closing with glitchy guitar work and washed out noise. The traditional indie pop of “Made of Stones” follows, while later, “Beyond the Void” contains a minute and a half of pulsing synths that build to the album’s conclusion.

Despite exhibiting such diverse sounds and a wide range of influences, Slow Light is a difficult album for the listener to connect with. The songs aren’t varied to the point which the album becomes disjointed, but at times Brown’s pop sensibilities feel uninspired. This could be attributed to his overuse of indie pop clichés, such as frequently breaking into vocal melodies of “Oos” and “Ohs”, in a way that is indistinguishable from similar musical acts. While Brown is sometimes able to create engaging and mood-driven music, too often the sentiment of the song is lost through his attempts at pop.

Slow Light has a number of surprising moments (such as the aforementioned noise ending to “Run Home”), but these high points are scattered and outweighed by Brown’s repetitive pop. Because the album is such a diverse diverse effort while still being approachable, it will likely catch the ear of many different types of listeners. Ultimately, Slow Light stands as a display of Brown’s wide-ranging talent and influence, but too often the songs feel as vague and anonymous as music playing far off in the distance.