Album Review: Brightness - Teething

Described as "a diary that candidly documents phases of uncertainty, dread, confusion and wonder", there's a lot to be found in Teething, the first solo outing for Newcastle's Alex Knight, aka Brightness.

The opener Oblivion is punchy and sharp, with a sense of longing weaved throughout the instrumental outro. Surrender is abundant in its vocal and multi-instrumental layering, and it's here that you can understand why Knight chose to play just about everything on the album himself.

If peak 1979-era Smashing Pumpkins took on a Latin influence, surely it would have resulted to Talk To Me. There's a brief intermission with Blow Fly, a low-end heavy, one-minute piece that feels a little out of place plonked between the previous and following melancholia-tinged lyrics.

Waltz is soft and sweet (just don't get put off by its seemingly false start) before you're thrown into the shoegaze heavy Queen Bee that gradually progresses into an all too familiar wall of sound before you're even aware that it's happening.

Kudos to Knight on developing such a rich and wide-ranging collection of sounds, with everything from '90s alt to soft guitar lullabies referenced throughout the tracks. Teething seems like the perfect title for this album; a contemplative collection of works that are still working their way through to full development.