First there was Test Icicles, that scrappy band that scribbled the chaotic, neon template of experimental, noisy indie-punk. Although the unconventional genre-hashers sparked much intrigue, the band split in 2006. Two years later, Dev Hynes, one of the Test Icicles trio, launched back onto the scene with his debut album under the moniker Lightspeed Champion. Opting for ukuleles and acoustic guitars over Moogs and strangled fretboards, a much mellower and accessible sound was heard. His new style, and also his thick black-rimmed glasses, continued the fascination that surrounded his first step into the music industry. Now, after a two year break, Hynes releases his follow-up, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You.On hearing the demure guitar in the opening bars of the first track, ‘Dead Head Blues’, questions arise as to whether the album is going to be more of the same. But then, unexpectedly, the primary addition to the Lightspeed clan emerges to eliminate such doubts: a piano. Its reverberations are stunted midway as the song launches into heavy The Killers- style synths; think 'Sam’s Town' but with a slightly whiny vocalist pining for love. The sound is dramatic enough to be an excerpt from a musical, certainly a leap from the previous ukulele twiddling.Such opportunities to flaunt his piano skills are thick and fast throughout the album, with many tracks, such as the indie ballads ‘Romart’ and ‘Smooth Day’, adding the traditional instrument into an orchestra of buzzing synths, marching drums and obscure instruments. There is even a piano étude, imaginatively named ‘Etude Op.3’, in which Hynes sets the newly acquired instrument into the limelight while illustrating his influences from classical composers. Two intermissions also space the album out, creating a break between Hynes singing his diary entries. The first is filled with foreboding keyboards, the second with tribal-like percussion; a little bit peculiar, but something very Lightspeed Champion.Another common sound to be heard is stomping percussion. The single ‘Marlene’ could easily be used to motivate workout regimes, with lines of trickling strings and spangly triangle-hitting softening the tempo jumps. ‘There’s Nothing Underwater’ has a gentle REM feel. Easy ukulele picking is strewn with rich interweaving layers of synths and woodwind. Unfortunately, there’s more yearns of “I miss you” from wallowing Hynes. By the time ‘Madame Van Damme’ is reached, the mass of lyrics about longing for love becomes rather mountainous and tiresome. With the absence of sidekick Emmy The Great, Hynes’ voice is forced into the foreground, making the pining ever-clearer. Considering he has had to endure recent throat surgery, it is an achievement in itself that he is still singing. However, aside from when an all-male choir belts over a thick chorus of instruments in ‘I Don’t Want To Wake Up Alone’, you can hear him straining and wobbling over certain notes, a problem that may have been less obvious before.Musically, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You is a fine example of how to prolong success after a well-acclaimed debut release. Sadly, Hynes fails to move forward lyrically, with practically every song being somehow related to love or lost romance. After the unpredicted turn to theatrical sounds and a varied library of instruments, it is a shame that the lyrics couldn’t match the impressive level of development that has occurred in the other elements of Lightspeed Champion’s music.

Buy the album on Amazon | [itunes link="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/lightspeed-champion/id205206972?uo=4" title="Lightspeed_Champion" text="iTunes"]Â | Rhythm Online