Big Deal
With the strum of an acoustic guitar set against the fuzzed out chords of an electric guitar and the tones of a boy / girl vocal, Big Deal announced their arrival in the summer of 2010. Since then Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe have been making waves with their tales of teen angst and adult compromise.
Lights Out, co-produced by Underwood and Dean Reid, emerges from its bedroom beginnings as a collection of 12 deeply personal songs with universal appeal, innately tapping into the innocence, insecurity, wonder and (sometimes unrequited) love and lust of relationships. The album opens with the nostalgic sweep of the Distant Neighborhood, a blissful, sun-kissed introduction. The raw, confessional Talk perfectly illustrates the push-pull of relationships, Seraphine is enchanting in its deep reflection while Homework is achingly beautiful in its schoolyard simplicity. Locked Up, a wall-of-sound swoon fleshed out from its early recordings, could well be one of the most raggedly affecting love songs this year. Overall, these are songs which are structurally sparse yet emotively rich, sweet and seductive yet raw and jagged.
