Discography

Act 2: Blood & the Life Eternal

By Neverending White Lights

ChartAttack

Windsor, Ont. native Daniel Victor often refers to Neverending White Lights as a "project," and not as a band. It's an apt description for a man who writes, records and produces all of his own material, but searches out a different guest vocalist for nearly every single track.

For Act II, he's tapped the likes of Aqualung, Sune Rose Wagner (The Raveonettes) and Lexi Valentine (Magneta Lane), to name but a few. Lead single "Always" stands out with its shoegaze guitars, Victor's own soaring vocals and a pounding beat driven by an unrelenting kick drum. It's indicative of the marked progression of NWL. Victor's dramatic and often sullen post-rock arrangements have been tightened up, making for a record that steadily flows from start to finish.

Project or band, Victor had better be prepared for the same sort of ubiquity his collaboration with Dallas Green yielded last time out. Matt Littlefair

Mallory Schwartz for The South End
3 stars

When I heard Neverending White Lights was releasing a new album, I immediately thought back to its free concert this past summer at the Erie Fest in Windsor, Canada. ? I was a mere two feet away from the band as they put on an intimate, outdoor concert in lead singer Daniel Victor's hometown.

Neverending White Lights is actually a one-man show, but Victor invites guest performers when recording and in live performances.

Because the crowd was so small, Victor and guests were able to give us a sneak preview of their yet to be released single "Always," from the new album, "Act 2: Blood & the Life Eternal."

The Neverending White Lights sophomore debut has the same sound of heavy pianos and love lyrics, with still enough of a rock edge to be played on local radio stations such as 88.7 FM and 93.9 FM, who hosted the Erie Fest.

This current softer rock sound can be compared to Radiohead and "Adore-"era Smashing Pumpkins.

What I particularly like about Victor and company is that they sound as clear in the studio recording as they did when I heard them outside.

Unlike the plethora of rock outfits in need of heavy production work and vocal touch-ups, Neverending White Lights' impressive live performance is indicative of Victor and crew's musical aptitude.

Notable tracks worth picking up off MP3 Web stores include "Always," "The World is Darker" and "Distance".

Victor signed 200 CDs and put different messages inside the covers, which are surfacing around the U.S. and Canada. He also took five albums and circled different words in some of the lyrics from the liner notes that are supposed to be worth some kind of monetary value, which is yet to be determined by Victor.

∠ back