Brooklyn breed Lighthouse’s latest effort “Counter.wav” places listeners somewhere between ebullience and the relief found when escaping the summer heat on a sunny afternoon. Counter.wav sounds very much so like “Lighthouse and chill”; some obscure feel good Hip Hop shit that subtly places serenades’ of the opposite sex under lilting tracks that just might be the prelude to coitus. Lighthouse efforts to seduce gets co opted by Bee Nova on “Enlighten” as the percussions momentarily cease and she instructs “step on into the light”. Her soft tone allows raunchy lines like “call my pussy Mobb deep because it’s the real” to seem chaste in an almost Aphrodite manner. Elsewhere “Taco Sauce” finds Lighthouse declaring to “Talk my shit while in this bitch” alongside other braggadocio lines while crooning which assures rather than asserts his confidence. That assurance makes way for an intrepid risk in letting the production blare for 3+ minutes during the latter of the song. What would normally be an easy skip turns into a sonic wormhole that sounds like a journey to Pharell’s stark trak aboard Parliaments mothership. The gloomy Counter.wav begins to edge toward darkness during the albums closer “Mortal” as Lighthouse’s Godlike confidence unravels into self loathing and the artist attempts to find peace amidst questioning god “why he gotta make shit hard”, presenting the inner conflict we all face. Counter.wav ends with a sound reminiscent of its start, water splashing, symbolizing the constant convergence of both the wave and counter wave. Lighthouses are tools for navigating the seas and both warnings of dangerous waters, a dual task the artist serves throughout the album as he presents his narrative in what is sometimes and audacious effort be always as soothing as the water coming ashore. click that link below and let us know what you think…
-Matthew Carroll