Old Lights

When you think of Missouri, Mark Twain, Harry S. Truman and the Big 12/SEC drama might come to mind before “great bands,” but there is a rising music scene spreading throughout the state. St. Louis might be leading the way for the Show Me State with acts like Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, but the whole state is providing its fair share: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelstin hails from Springfield, and White Rabbits formed in Columbia.

Check out these 10 up-and-coming bands from Missouri that should be on your radar below:

4. Old Lights
Hometown: St. Louis
Current Release: Like Strangers
Members: David Beeman, Beth Bombara, Kit Hamon, John Joern

The pedals and filters on electric guitars mix well with David Beeman’s calm vocals and the harmonies between Beeman and Beth Bombara. “Wilder Honey” is a good example of Old Lights’ ability to write melodies that work perfectly with their lyrics. Their mostly instrumental “Loud Song” is just that, a song that isn’t afraid to turn up the volume.
- Paste Magazine

From solo project to group effort, St. Louis’ Old Lights has gone through quite the transformation to create the diversified and full sound of its newest LP Like Strangers. After the practical solo-release of Old Lights’ first album, Every Night Begins The Same, band creator David Beeman decided to enlist some of St. Louis’ finest musicians—Beth Bombara (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Kit Hamon (bass, keyboards, vocals) and John Joern (drums)—to create the current line-up. Now each member is working to bring Beeman’s vision to life.

There is a definite southern-rock quality to Old Lights, in their melodic yet gruff guitar lines and the slight twang in Beeman’s voice. At the same time, the injection of synths here and there modernize their sound and removes them from becoming just another southern-rock band.

While writing songs for this record, Beeman was living with his girlfriend, and things were a bit rocky, which, while not being good for the relationship, was excellent for songwriting. Often the most tragic events somehow produce the best material (and album titles), so Beeman used the strange situation to begin work on the six songs comprising Like Strangers, by working on material at home and playing it back in the monitors, all while his girlfriend was still in the house. Don’t feel bad though, she’s a musician, too, and she was doing the same thing.

Beeman, as the principle songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, tells his stories of love found and lost in a way that rarely feels depressing. Listened to in the given track order, the songs paint a vivid picture of a fizzling romance, from pointing fingers on “It Was You” to providing a dual perspective in “Wilder Honey” and the eventual end on “Death Came,” though the couple themselves managed to pull through and remain together today.

Beeman lays it all on the table with nothing to hide, allowing an intensely intimate look into his personal life. But, even though the concept of the album is not a light matter, the musical arrangement never makes things feel awkward—their pop influenced keys and drums blur and cushion the sad core to the songs. Old Lights takes a touchy subject that can easily become a pity party and makes it sound like the least self-indulgent way to self-analyze without asking for condolence from its listeners, but instead providing them with heartbreak they can dance to.
-CMJ.com - CMJ

“With a wiry voice that recalls Eric D. Johnson of the Fruit Bats, a thirst for melody that suggests Elvis Costello at his poppiest and a band that can rock, skip and stroll through the post-Fleetwood Mac landscape, Beeman may be taking his time with Old Lights, but whatever comes next will be essential listening.” —Roy Kasten, 88.1 KDHX, Riverfront Times

- The Riverfront Times

Baker’s complete top 10 for 2011:

Brown Bird Salt For Salt
Old Lights Like Strangers
The Head and the Heart The Head and the Heart
Jump Starts Ready, Set, Go…
Middle Brother Middle Brother
Givers In Light
Scarlet Tanager American Songbird
My Morning Jacket Circuital
Alabama Shakes Alabama Shakes
Rockwell Knuckles YOU’RE FUCKING OUT, I’M FUCKING IN
- Audio Muffin

David Beeman and his Old Lights crew had their album release show this past weekend in the their home base of Saint Louis, MO.

Thanks to digital technology and the internet world – we can all enjoy a copy ourselves via their bandcamp page.

Old Lights – Like Strangers.

For a taste – check out their Halfway House Session below: - Halfway House

Old Lights' new 10", Like Strangers, is a brutal love story told over six tracks that move with hypnotizing grace. Its the sort of record that you just keep listening to. Its guitars, keys and vocals tee off on one sweet spot after another, peeling off seamlessly or drowning in reverb. David Beeman, never particularly shy as a lyricist or otherwise, has plenty of arrestingly direct lines on this one ("We are not evil/We are just people"). But it's not a one-man show any more: Like Strangers is the product of a band, with Beth Bombara, Kit Hamon and John Joern all intrinsically involved in the process at more-or-less every step along the way.
-Kiernan Maletsky, RFT music editor - The Riverfront Times

"Old Lights’ high energy live show has earned them spots onstage with national acts such as Cold War Kids, Blind Pilot, and Delta Spirit. Hot off the heels of their newest record, this band is going places."

- Loufest