A full decade after intentionally disbanding, Federal Lights return better than ever, with their new (and third) album "Celebration of Failure".
Celebration of Failure, offers deep, authentic explorations of the vulnerable emotional states encountered on this long journey of destruction and rebuilding. Deploying few but well-chosen words in each song, Federal Lights move through desperation, obsession, depression, escape, defeat, loss, and ultimately, redemption through choice. The sound is anthemic, atmospheric rock – with compelling synth and treated-electric-guitar textures – that would fit neatly on a playlist beside Radiohead, Brian Eno, and Arcade Fire.
"Celebration of Failure" reveals Federal Lights standing strong in the light, after a long and difficult sojourn in the dark.
A standout song, “Two Rivers,” for example, moves from an acoustic guitar strum, to a crisply picked electric one, to a huge surf-twang solo. It’s a tribute to Winnipeg, and just as the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet in that city, then go their separate ways, so too does the couple in the song. “Winnipeg is a city sometimes loathed and feared by its nation,” says Roy. “The song pays homage to the juxtaposition of the two rivers that bring beauty to the city, but also have the ability to hide its secrets. Everything washes out in the end.”
Another gem, the hard-rocking “Night Movers,” tells the story of Johatsu, a man driving all night through North Ontario, en route from Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku district to seek the refuge of anonymity in Nome, Alaska. “It’s a man escaping his past,” says Roy, “and taking his penitence in the harsh Canadian shield, for the way in which he left, and for the people he knowingly hurt.” A short reprise of the song’s final lines, “Out to Sea,” closes the album.
“Celebration of Failure” is dark and mysterious song, propelled by a trancelike synth and a small but unsettling choir of voices. Haunted by the inevitability of death, it builds to a truly frightening crescendo. “It’s about wrestling with our desires, choosing which ones we allow ourselves to pursue, which ones we hide, and which ones we deny,” says Roy. “The consequences of those very choices never remain in the dark, but are pushed out into the light, revealing who we are.”
