Album Review: AU Both Lights

Both Lights is the long-anticipated third album from Portland, Oregon-based duo AU, aka Luke Wyland and Dana Valatka. Throughout the album the duo continue to inject their frenetic energy into every song, sounding like Animal Collective's younger brother hopped up on red cordial and let loose in a studio. While it's a complex, impressive album, the band can be impatient with song structures, and it's only when they slow things down that you can appreciate it all.

Up first is the aptly titled Epic, opening with breakbeat drumming and sweeping, layered guitar lines that continue to build until saxophonist Colin Stetson (Bon Iver) brings it all to a striking finish. The highlight comes with Solid Gold; a fantastic, bombastic single if there ever was one. What starts with sparse piano and Wyland's lone voice explodes into a pressure cooker of brass instruments and harmonies, threatening to implode from sheer joyous energy. The last three tracks, Go Slow, Old Friend and Don't Lie Down are a medley that interweaves Wyland's expressive singing with vocalist Holland Andrews over a mesmerizing classical-inspired piano. The first two songs lure you in before the whole band come in to deliver the final knockout punch for the album. It's a fine example of the band's softer, subdued side adding balance and depth to the album in a positive way.

Both Lights will satisfy longtime fans and newcomers who have yet to experience the unique sound and power of this great group. It has some great, if not transitory, moments and shows the band have a lot more to offer; they only need to work on not letting it all come out at once.