Lightyears follows Higher Ground
Enter Shikari have issued a new single, Lightyears. The group announced the release on its official website.[1], [2]
Analysis
Enter Shikari release Lightyears, inspired by old family films
Enter Shikari have released Lightyears, following Higher Ground by about three weeks. Rou Reynolds says the song grew from digitising old family videos, including holidays, birthdays and school concerts. Encounters with lost people, vanished places and his younger self supplied its subject. Dansende Beren’s reviewer describes the new single as a ballad and questions its pacing.
Family tapes supply the song’s starting point
Released about three weeks after Higher Ground, Lightyears draws on family recordings. Rou Reynolds, the band’s frontperson, says he digitised family camcorder tapes last year. Holidays, Christmas celebrations, birthdays and school concerts were among the scenes. He describes seeing people who have died, recognising places that have disappeared and confronting a younger version of himself. These encounters supplied the song’s subject.[1]
Bryan Boomaars, reviewing for the music publication Dansende Beren, treats Lightyears as a ballad with a gentle beginning and a growing sound. He finds its pace slow over roughly four minutes. That is the reviewer’s judgement of the single’s musical development.[1]
The release accompanies a return to the stage
Enter Shikari played warm-up concerts in Oxford and Leicester in the preceding week. Reynolds described being able to relax again during the Leicester performance. Enter Shikari’s forthcoming shows include Brussels on 9 November and Tilburg on 11 November. The concerts sit alongside the newly released music in the band’s current schedule.[1]