The Downtown Lights is a fantastic composition on its own merit, originally written by Paul Buchanan and released as the lead single off The Blue Nile's synthpop classic, Hats, from 1989. The song has been previously covered by more mainstream acts like Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart, and more alternative ones like Small Black and Pure Bathing Culture who did their own version of the entire Hats.
Following a strong two-track release of remixes, Collapsing Scenery come back to unveil their own version of The Downtown Lights, and the result feels equated to how moody, impassioned and soulful the original was, adding to Buchanan and The Blue Nile's vision for the song.
The band's own Don De Vore says: "The Downtown Lights is a masterpiece, an eccentric, yearning, bizarre, impressionistic wander through a gaslit, haunted cityscape. You can almost see the puddles reflecting neon lights. It was a pleasure to learn this song, as it never goes where you expect it to, and the lyrics are a Byzantine maze of idiosyncratic free association."
A daring experimental act, Don De Vore (Ink & Dagger, Lilys, The Icarus Line, Amazing Baby) and Reggie Debris strive to augment Collapsing Scenery into something more than just a contemporary band. In this case, it seems fair to perceive them as an effective musical act; and also as a versed, shrewd and mighty good one.
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