Album review: CITY OF LIGHTS – Before The Sun Sets

Frontiers [Release date: 11.02.22]

Debut album from City Of Lights – Brit guitarist/writer Neil Austin and Greek vocalist Manos Fatsis (Hideaway). They are joined in the studio by members of Creye, Degreed and Art Nation.

It’s clear that a passionate love of the AOR genre drives the combatants. They pour themselves fully into every groove. But often it’s just too generic, despite the passionate performances.

One look at the song titles tells you a lot…’Hearts On Fire’. ‘Heart On The Line’, ‘Give Back My Heart’… we’re not looking at Pulitzer Prize winners here.

Yes, ok, the music’s not designed to win literary prizes, but it’s a good example of how playing it by the blueprint, especially in the post rock age, can become a musical straitjacket.

Strong songs ‘Dying Light’ and ‘Joanna’ seem handicapped by the limitations of the arrangements, force fitted into an eighties’s AOR template.

Where it breaks through the surface gloss, as on ‘Racing On The Redline’, a decent chorus and hook are illuminated by finger blistering fretwork, and again on ‘Emily’s tuneful if lightweight AOR (reminiscent of ace Christian Rock band, Idle Cure) you hear a band firmly plugged into the history of the genre.

Perhaps if they had thrown a handful of grit into the mix, a few more songs, like ‘Heat Of The Night’ and ‘Snake Eyes’ might also have broken through the production’s shiny veneer.

For the most part then, it’s good 80′s AOR pastiche, and will go down well with genre fans. But perhaps just when we’re looking for that bit more, there’s less there than meets the eye. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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