Lightheaded - Good Good Great! (Cassette) |

New Jersey's Lightheaded have conjured, through some mysterious alchemy, a distinctive flavor of pop that draws as much from 60s Brill Building, garage-pop and folk-pop as it does from the DIY indie explosion of the 80s/early 90s. Their debut EP "Good Good Great!" shows that band core Cynthia and Stephen are clearly students of pop in all its permutations, but they wear their influences lightly -- a typical Lightheaded song could have been released in 1966 or 1986, but in fact sounds just right in 2023! The sound has just right amount of elemental murk, drawing to mind a mythical collab between Phil Spector and Curt Boettcher's Sagittarius, working their way through the Goffin & King songbook. Cynthia's rich vocals are the secret weapon here, possessing a depth and swing that can handle with aplomb the sprightliest pop or the tear-jerkingest drama. From the melodic sweep of EP opener "Mercury Girl" to the folky jangle of "The Garden," to the just-so cover of teen pop obscurity "Patti Girl" and the Shangri-Las-esque closer "Love Is Overrated," "Good Good Great!" introduces us to a band with a most unique take on pop and more than whets the appetite for their debut album, due in early 2024.