As well-remembered The Lightning Seeds are for that collaboration with David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, their studio work falls on deaf ears. Ian Broudie may be the most optimistic pop singer out there, his indie charms still come through with an absolutely fine level of quality to them. See You in the Stars is a surprising reminder that novelty pop songs are not the be-all and end-all of professional musicians, even if it feels that way from time to time. This is a debut album. See You in the Stars is music that sounds like a group getting to grips with what they should offer to an audience. That is not where The Lightning Seeds should be, but here they are, rattling out three-minute indie pop riffs.
Although the harmless introduction with Losing You offers up a track that would find itself played in the background of a pub, a shift in tone and motion sees Broudie and company wake up from this comatose introduction. Emily Smiles is a nice enough piece with a solid message at the core of it and some decent instrumental work from the band. There is a shameful reliance on autotuning throughout the album, a tad cruel to knock back at it but if Broudie wishes to utilise it then it shows there is a lack of faith in the pieces that assemble See You in the Stars. If confidence in the voice is not present, then there is no need to sing. Autotune does too much of the heavy lifting here, a shame too as some of these songs have raw, moving meaning to them.
See You in the Stars works well when its album tracks come to light, though. Green Eyes is an acceptable love song of burning up and chowing down on some thing or other. A saxophone strikes through before anything formidable comes together. Uplifting, yet empty. Most of the tracks here are of some form of acceptable quality or another. Light music does not equate to charming music. Great To Be Alive is a nice enough song, lamenting the foolish dreams of a hopeful individual. Fit for Purpose uses its string section nicely, but not enough to warrant more than a single listen. Live to Love You is sickly sweet, Permanent Danger speaks for itself. There is a shoddy lack of similarity to those latter tracks that feel glib.
See You in the Stars would be lucky to be labelled as glib on the whole, a Lightning Seeds piece that stutters and spits out optimistic tracks with no aim. Credit to Broudie, though, who has maintained an optimistic stance throughout, it just feels as though he cuts himself off from reaching that next level of his work without it. The Lighting Seeds’ latest album will likely pass people by, but it is not as if there are no tracks on here worth listening to. Whether they are playing again after a first listen is beside the point, there is listenable music within See You in the Stars, somewhere…
