Kill The Lights — Fog Area

Kill The Lights thankfully return with the very confident Fog Area after moving from Montreal to Toronto, releasing an unjustly ignored album (2007's Buffalo Of Love), losing band members, enduring a near break-up and finally moving back to Montreal.

Kill The Lights have moved away from the trendy dance punk of Buffalo and darkened their edges for Fog Area, creating a more dense, cold, somber sonic palette.

The tension-filled near-instrumental opener "At The Ruins" is equal to Bloc Party's Silent Alarm leadoff "Like Eating Glass," perfectly setting the post-punk tone for the rest of the album. Yes, the Joy Division influence is immediate, but tracks like "Little Ninja Boots" and the soaring "Waif Spoons Rake" take cues just as much from The Unforgettable Fire-era U2.

It seems Kill The Lights have also learned a thing or two about dynamics, offering more of an ebb and flow to Fog Area by mixing in moody slow-builders ("Witches Easter Egg") with pounding, driving songs ("Crooked Fist"). Meanwhile, the irresistible "Your Science" is quite simply the band showing self-assuredness in their own abilities by dropping in a folksy, strum-filled pop song that devolves into a shout-out, noise-filled climax.

A band with such an easy way with melody (get a load of the vocals on the shimmering "Lakes 2") sounds good playing whatever music they want to, so even though Kill The Lights might be a bit different this time around, they still warrant your attention.

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