‘Enjoy Youth’ Finds Bright Light x2 at the Top of His Game (Review)
"Enjoy Youth," Bright Light Bright Light's latest album, is a master class in buoyant, vibrant, glorious dance-pop.
To cop from the title of his 2021 singles collection, Rod Thomas understands that dance-pop is at its best when it sits firmly at the intersection of gay and dramatic.
That ethos has served Thomas well as he has consistently put out some of the most well-crafted dance albums of the last few years under the moniker Bright Light Bright Light — all the more impressive considering he did so without the force of a major label behind him.
His latest, Enjoy Youth, finds Thomas at the top of his game once again, with an album that has arrived just in time for heavy rotation through Pride month and beyond.
While an eclectic roster of collaborators led him to take a varied queer-block-party approach on his last album, this one is a more focused outing. It’s expertly crafted and full of house- and disco-indebted dance bops that are unmistakably Bright Light.
They were teased in the upbeat “Sweet Release” and the dramatic “I Don’t Know What I’m Gonna Do,” two singles that were released long before Enjoy Youth, but their energy is easily matched by the shimmery, cinematic synthpop power trip of “Snap!” and “Revived,” a feel-good house number ready for a summer tea dance.
One of the feats Bright Light pulls off with Enjoy Youth is in keeping it almost relentlessly upbeat for its entire runtime without allowing it to lag or lose its sense of surprise. And even in an album full of tracks that could each stand alone as an incredible pop number, there are a handful of standouts.
Frequent collaborator Mykal Kilgore shows up to lend his charisma and powerful vocals to the infectiously catchy “Heartslap,” an endlessly repeatable number with a beat that gets under the skin. Ultra Naté makes an appearance, too, lending her legendary ’90s dance magic to the earworm “Every Emotion,” by far one of the album’s strongest.
While these tracks make for the kind of high-energy dance-pop romp you can lose yourself and your cares in, they have a thoughtful maturity running underneath them. There are plenty of instances that celebrate the moments of clarity that usually come with age and experience.
The album’s opener, “You Want My…” runs in a different direction from the George Michael track it winks at. Offering a counterpoint to the infatuated pining of the Michael track, it instead revels in the moment you shake off a former lover you’ve finally realized was bad for you the whole time.
Other times that clarity comes too late, as it does on “Down to One,” which takes up the feeling of watching yourself get caught up in something that you know on some level is bad for you. It would hardly be a Bright Light x2 record if it didn’t indulge in some melodrama, after all — but he does leave us on an optimistic note.
Enjoy Youth is one of those dance-pop records that sweeps you up in its energy and leaves you feeling good, and remains true through its moodier back half. “Sweetest Waste” captures the strange feeling of missing a love that ended for the right reasons as you reflect on the good things about it.
The standard version’s second-to-last track, “Keep,” is about that rare kind of yearning that is hopeful and clear-eyed all at the same time, with lyrics that plead with a prospective lover to let go of their fear and let themselves be loved.
“I’m not like all the other boys,” Bright Light declares on the single “Boys, Etc.” I’m giving you magic, I’m giving you joy.” It’s a cocky statement but an accurate one.
Along with the captivating hooks and immensely satisfying dance beats, the album offers a gentle reminder that youth is a state of mind rather than a product of time.
Joy, vibrancy, and hedonistic abandon to dance the night away are accessible to us at any age, as are the confidence and self-empowerment that allow us to fully lean in and enjoy them on our own terms.
Enjoy Youth (★★★★☆) is available on streaming, digitally, or on vinyl and CD from all good independent music stores. Visit www.store.brightlightx2.com.
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