Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Dave Luxton — Lights Appearing
(Bandcamp Wayfarer no #, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-10-01

Lights Appearing Cover art

Based in the Pacific Northwest, Dave Luxton is a producer, composer, keyboardist, guitarist, and all around classically trained musician working in multiple genres, including ambient, soundtracks, space music and more. Beginning in 2007, with 27 full-length albums to date these genres, he is also the founder of the Wayfarer Music Group (formerly Wayfarer Records) which we have covered in these pages often, with a roster of artists including Dieter Spears, Eleon, Brannan Lane, Byron Metcalf, Ambiente Solstice, John Gregorius, Sean O’Brien Smith, and many others, forging creative and explorative sounds in a universe of possibilities, as well as his own label Mysterious Light Music. The eight compositions on Lights Appearing explore a mysterious ambient soundworld using synthesizers, guitars, effects, voices, software instruments, processed sounds, and much more, resulting in a beautifully melodic and organic ambient soundworld, often reminiscent of the artists on the Spotted Peccary label, or some classic era artists, although (at least on Lights Appearing) one won’t find a lot of sequenced passages, fast or slow, nor will one find straight-up floating ambient sounds or industrial textures; Luxton instead opts for a more symphonic approach, though one that embraces the hallmarks of space music and electronics in a gentle, melodic, and organic way. The stunning opener “Embers of Me,” which also features Nacre and Michelle Qureshi, is a haunting and mysterious six-minute piece that covers a fair amount of territory; the guitar playing is supple and magical, melodic textires bending and twisting around beautiful panoramic vocalizations. The title track eases in slowly with shimmering steel guitars over a bed of dreamy and intriguing reversed guitar, it doesn’t really change much over the course of the piece, but it’s something one could listen to on repeat forever. A slightly disorienting “Whimsical Oscillations” sweeps through the starfield as it wanders slowly toward its conclusion, while “Magical Waters” (complete with field recordings of surf) bends the organic approach much like Saucerful era Pink Floyd did. The beautiful closer “Force Majeure” leaves no doubt that Lights Appearing is epic in every way.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Dave Luxton

More info
http://daveluxton.bandcamp.com/album/lights-appearing

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.