The Northern Lights

1. THE NORTHERN LIGHTS – TEENAGE WASTELAND
The Northern Lights released an excellent album this summer under the moniker Astronaut Arcade. Teenage Wasteland was released shortly after, and it feels like the night following the summer day that permeated that album. The indie and nu-gaze influences can still be heard on this EP, where they are complemented by either catchy and breathy vocal performances or catchy and breathy synths. It's chilled out, well written, and sonically interesting from beginning to end. "Say Goodbye" leads the pack as the closing track, bringing in everything that made the EP great with what I swear is some inspiration from Twin Peaks. - New Retro Wave

Now normally, I’m not a big fan of alternative or even indie rock music, never found it enjoyable. However, mix it with soundscape, synthwave, and french film score vibes, you get the musician known as The Northern Lights (aka, The Astronaut Arcade). They’ve released a good number of albums and EP’s and singles, the one I’m focusing all my effort on currently is the Teenage Wasteland EP, released August 30th last year, and NewRetroWave’s #1 EP of last year. Wowza. I agree fully.

I award this album a spectacular 4.99/5 letter man jackets. Good day. - ArcAvalon

MUSIC: CONFIDENCE & POSITIVE VIBES FROM THE NORTHERN LIGHTS' ALBUM 'DAYS OF YOUTH'
March 16, 2016 Axel Ricks - Neon Vice

Anyone remember that album I reviewed, the Teenage Wasteland EP by The Northern Lights? Well, it looks like the person/people behind the music project have just released a new album called “Endless Summer”, which is described as a selection of their fans favorite tunes, and 6 brand new tracks. I’ve supported the group in ways before reviewing, by just simply buying what they have to offer, including their Dreamer albums, the Retro Promenade The Next Peak Part I, their “Days Of Youth” album(which along with the short film they created the music video for) has disappeared, and even the iTunes version of Nostalgia. Now enough blabbering about my fascination with this music, let’s get right into the music.
The album’s first track “Night Drive” has been around for about 2 years, that means 2014, which means their music has had plenty of time to evolve and grow into something fascinating, but this song is fascinating enough, its samples and its build-up, with the usual lo-fi sounding film score, it’s a perfect introduction. “1984” sets a mood as the track directly after that, making it more lighthearted with loud drums and even a saxophone, a classic and an instrument that needs to be used more in this genre, please lord. “You Stole My Heart” does that, it stole my heart as a slow dance track, just like their Teenage Wasteland EP, with the lyrics, the singer is still perfect as ever with it, making me wanna just confess my feelings for the girl I love.
“Feel The Heat” brings back the regular film score sounding tracks, and it’s very much welcome here as a club track, like Bonfire Night at the beach, twilight setting in, drinks and boomboxes all around (for those of you who don’t know what Bonfire Night is, it’s a British holiday on November the 5th). “Vapors” gets really funky and loud again, with the usual drums and lo-fi sound, making this the fifth track that’s a toe-tapper and a head-bopper. This song reminds me of looking through the fog, as me and my girlfriend get lost in it’s haze and emptiness, that emptiness excluded only for us. “Sunset”, the sixth track, has a more 80’s-culture song ,with guitars, synthesizers, female/male vocals, and imagery up the wazoo. It reminds me of movies like Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles, old John Hughes teen movies.
“Dream Beach” takes the “love by the beach” trope in movies and makes it into an enjoyable pop-orientated song that just gets me right in the feels. It’s like an audiovisual day and night cycle. “Indigo” perfectly describes what I just said, as the previous track is like the night, and this track is like the daylight. “Time Travelers” is to me, the best song on this album. It incorporates almost everything I love about this group: the lo-fi sounds, the film score vibe, the slow dance rhythm, and it’s progression with the guitars and the drums make it a masterpiece of a song for this album. “Alive”, from the Teenage Wasteland EP, is right after that, and I won’t talk about it because I’ve talked about it already (SHAMELESS PLUG GO READ MY TEENAGE WASTELAND EP REVIEW FOR INFORMATION ON THE TRACK “ALIVE”).
“That Summer” brings us back to tracks like “You Stole My Heart” and “Sunset”, again with the usual “love is anywhere” ideals, which I heavily believe in. This track even has the vocals, just like the aforementioned two tracks. “Electric Winter” is like the opposite, it’s slow, no vocals, and yet still has the feeling of love. “Elevation” is the second to last track on the album, and it’s my second favorite on the album, still a toe-tapper and a head-bopper, but it’s also a track I’d do anything to. I could be taking an afternoon walk in my neighborhood, going on a drive to a restaurant with my family, or just laying in bed going to sleep, it’s a song about anything. The final track, “Say Goodbye”, is also from the Teenage Wasteland EP, so I won’t speak of it, but it’s still beautiful. With some final words, there’s so much passion and love and deep feelings in this music and band/artist, it’s utterly beautiful. I definitely wish them the best of luck in the future. - Arc Avalon