As I always have with new Placebo albums, I was expecting something special. Meds, Sleeping With Ghosts, and Black Market Music were each consistently phenomenal albums, so naturally I expected Battle for the Sun to keep up that track record. Sadly, it does not. There is too much space; too much waiting for something to kick in. They have also grossly overused the soft/quiet formula here. The lyrics - usually a Placebo high point - feel very basic and lack the sense that a listener can really focus on them and do their best to figure out what Molko is singing about. Surprisingly, the loss of their longtime drummer in this current lineup really has nothing to do with the album’s shortcomings; the drumming is great, but overall the songs just aren’t there. I found myself watching each track queue up hoping something was about to blow my socks off, either sonically or melodically, but it never happens. I expected much more from such a great band. Honestly, I don’t think I can give this much more than a few listens.

The only song that really grabbed me was the very last track, In A Funk - apparently a bonus song on the itunes download. It’s wholly ironic that every song before this finds Placebo in exactly that.

My band recently changed our name to Looming Lights after about four years as The Atlantic Divide. We needed something new, something to give us a different outlook on our music as we started work on a new album earlier this year. Looming Lights, one of our earlier song names, was the name we chose. It was an interesting process to create new artwork and a new theme for the band. As The Atlantic Divide I constantly felt some sort of need to base themes, artwork and lyrics around the ocean. With this new name, I wanted to stay away from anything too literal and go for something that didn’t really have to mean much of anything. I went through a variety of concepts before looking back at some photos I’d taken of Chicago at night while landing at the airport. While I did not take the photo used above, it’s a pretty close match for a few I’d taken on that flight.

So with the new imagery we are using, I think it has a good connection to lyrics I’ve been writing since we made the change. I like to think of just being above the city thinking about all the stories that are being made in any given second - who’s at a party, who’s in love, who’s breaking the rules, who’s dreaming about something a million miles away from where they are. The connection between imagery and lyrics is something I have always had tremendous appreciation for - no idea how all this will end up but it’s great to be excited about something new in this way.

To view my portfolio, you can use the link above or just click here. The band’s web site is available at www.loominglights.com.

I recently found a pair of Vans Vault Sk8-Hi LX shoes in Complex magazine and quickly discovered that they were nearly impossible to find. Zappos, Shoes.com, and other site’s don’t carry many of the more custom lines by major shoe companies; they’re often sold only in stores - and it seems like most of them rarely have an online store. As I looked around I discovered that Vans is releasing a ridiculous amount of shoes under the Vault line that I’m really craving. The two above are set for late summer/early fall release and are part of the wool / peacoat series. 

If anyone happens to come across this post and knows where these might be available, drop a comment down below.

This is a site I found a while back that includes an incredible range of business cards - and what really caught my eye was the great variety of letterpress style cards. Letterpress has always had a strong appeal to me, from the variety of paper textures available, to the ability for minimal typographic visuals to be very bold. If you’re looking to do a new card for yourself, or just looking for design inspiration in general, have a look at the site here:  Card Observer - Business Card Design Inspiration.