Album review: LEAGUE OF LIGHTS – Dreamers Don’t Come Down

Eightspace Records [Release date 12.03.21]

League Of Lights, the husband and wife duo of Richard (also a member of prog metal band Threshold) and Farrah West, return with their third album. As Farrah explains, “The album is about the past, the present and the future – about taking the best from all that you have been through, the pressures of modern life and keeping your dreams alive in dark times.”

Like many albums now being released this one was mainly written and recorded since the lockdowns began over a year ago. Bizarrely ‘Twenty Twenty One’ was written pre-pandemic in 2019, yet the music and lyrics fit this year perfectly. This was the first single released off this album and it is one of the album’s instant ‘hits’.

One thing that is apparent upon listening to this album is that the musical arrangements have been stripped back more, with the piano leading the way in backing the ethereal vocals of Farrah.

As Richard states, “we wanted it to be more piano-driven than our previous release…more open than before with less synths and more space for Farrah’s vocals to really lift off.” That certainly has been achieved as ‘Modern Living’ and ‘Persephone’ highlight, where the music gives plenty of space to Farrah’s vocals, yet there is still enough going on musically for the listener to pick out different sounds on each subsequent listen.

‘The Collector’ has been released as a single, being another strong piano driven melody and it has the potential to be played on mainstream radio. ‘North Of The Sun’ could be another possible one for a single release, although to be fair all of the album has wide appeal due to its melodic pop roots.

The final song, ‘Echoes of a Dream’, is worth highlighting too, as it is one of those songs that revisits and summarises the rest of the songs on the album. Cleverly done, making a fitting finale to the album.

League Of Lights seem to have found their desired sound on this album – a classy mix of piano led pop, electro and progressive music, with emphasis on the vocals and melodies. Highly recommended, as indeed are the band’s previous two albums. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 15 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 17 December 2024 and is Part 1 of Pete’s best of the year

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)