The Daily Spin II
Lane 8 | Brightest Lights
Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.
As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.
Album: Brightest Lights (2020)
Artist: Lane 8
Link:
Lane 8 serve up a very healthy helping of early-2010s progressive house a decade after it really hit the big-time, and I’m honestly not mad about it in the slightest.
It doesn’t really do anything that feels particularly revolutionary - this far after the heyday of a sound, a lot of conceptual work has been covered and the actual sound of this record gets a little too close to other luminaries and titans of the industry to really make a distinct mark.
People online have heralded Lane 8 and Brightest Lights as the sort of artist and record that will make people emotional and provoke something greater, but I don’t really agree with that sentiments. Frankly, I think most of that’s a little overblown. Most electronica has this issue of needing to be Deep (it gets the people going!), and that strikes here.
If you remove yourself from any grand overarching meaning, though, this record is just really nice. Lane 8 is excellent at playing towards a style I most strongly associate with deadmau5 - trance-like synths over bassy drums, avoidant of the more metal-influenced style that Skrillex favored - and here, it works. The clear best track is the one that shares the album’s title - full of strong sounds, it’s the most memorable from an album that on occasion veers into nothingness.
Rating: 7/10
Best Tracks: Brightest Lights
Worst Tracks: Yard Two Stone