Album Review: Ten Fé “Hit The Light ” Of Music
So often, music is described as bright and sunny in reflection to the “feel good” vibes of its sonics. Certain songs know how to make you feel like the sun is shining upon you, but Ten Fé’s Hit The Light makes you feel like you are shining on the sun. It is a record that makes you live in the heat of this celestial object through 80’s inspired synths and renewing lyrics.
I know that “renewing” is a strange word to associate with a record that has nothing to do with a license. Ten Fé named Hit The Light after the big theme of the album: coming from dark into light; an act of renewal. Such a theme makes sense for a band whose name means “Have Faith”, and whose own search for faith in themselves can be metaphorically compared to light entering darkness. Having taken 4 long years’ of work busking on the London Underground to recording in Berlin, a personal and creative changes helped inspire the spirituality of this album. For Ten Fé , seeing and embracing the light of yourself is a celebration that merits both dancing like in “Overflow” and “Follow”. Yet, it also deserves a level of enlightenment in your voice and words. When you speak about how better you have become as a human being, you can hear your voice grow in joy and thoughtfulness, which can be said for Ben Moorhouse.
Moorhouse has a voice that radiates like a light beam bouncing from a wall. He knows how to toss around his vocals to capture the wonder that is to grow as a person. In perspective, it is crazy to see how we can be so different from ourselves in a span of a year. You can be a completely new or rather “renewed” person, if you absorb your life experiences as lessons in the virtues you need. In songs such as “Make Me Better” Ten Fé’ learns the humility of time in changing your perspective over how a lover treats you. Other songs like “Burst” or “Don’t Forget”, literally, share the lyric “Don’t Give Up”, which makes the album feel like a sonic/ spiritual growth, as well. In the beginning songs such as “Elodie” and “Another Way” had hints of nostalgia; vocally presenting Moorhouse like a man looking back on his previous life and loves, hesitant, to let go of their memory. Any time we are about to grow, the pangs of who we are and were begins to be felt, but it is not the pangs of longing as much as changing. No growth is easy as seen in “Twist Your Arm”, but Moorhouse has a cool voice that manages to grasp enough emotional distance from the hardships of renewal to then capture the joy of it.
Instrumentally and vocally, Ten Fé’s Hit The Light is more than a balance of light and darkness. It is also a balance between depth and simplicity. Ten Fé uses their words like anecdotes of inner journey from which the harmonies between Moorhouse and fellow bandmate Leo Duncan really shine and elaborate the beauty of growing up. Yes, we all grow old, but if you want to renew your spirit then you need to grow up and elevate your sense of love. By assuring that their words never get too complicated and their synths and basslines never lose that sense of electricity, Ten Fé’s Hit The Light helps listeners understand that hitting the light is not a point in your life’s journey; it IS your life’s journey. If the whole point of living is to become your lightest self, then Ten Fé’s Hit The Light is a good album to celebrate that point. To Buy Ten Fé’s Hit The Light On February 3 Click Here.
