Album review : STREETLIGHT – Ignition

Frontiers [Release date : 11.08.23]

Streetlight’s debut album is filled to the brim with heart and soul AOR.

Few bands have the skill and ability to make it sound this honest. Just unpretentious songs of unerring simplicity and (mostly) uncomplicated sentiment, built on strands of soaring melody and cleanly crafted musicianship.

Swedish singer/ songwriter Johannes Hager created Streetlight from his own songwriting and performing ambitions, adding a bunch of musicians whose background was in session work. It was a solid foundation on which to build these 11 songs.

The bright and breezy AOR songcraft of openers, ‘Hit The Ground’, ‘Chutes And Ladders’ and ‘Stay’ has an immediate impact.

It comes as no surprise then to learn that two of Hager’s songs, ‘Fire Burning’ and ‘Overjoyed’, featured here, made it onto the short list for Journey’s next album but missed the cut. ‘Overjoyed’ is the stronger of the two and you can hear why Journey were interested.
It deserves its place here, but perhaps it just lacks the kind of unique AOR profile looked for by one of the world’s leading Melodic Rock bands.

Framed in a dreamy, Westcoast Rock template, the slickly romantic ballads, ‘Closer’ and ‘Words For Mending Broken Hearts’ pick Streetlight out as real contenders, finding the kind of mellow groove searched for by so many AOR bands.

Full of purpose, urgency and drive, ‘Love Riot’ and ‘Awake’ are weightier contributions.

‘Caught Up In A Dream’ and ‘Malibu Pier’s punchy, flamboyant Powerpop mark the band out further, closing the album in a blaze of sensory overloaded glory.

This band could be great. ****1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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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)