Light FM is returning, decidedly more muscular

Kevin Bronson on
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Rumors of Light FM’s demise were not exaggerated – Josiah Mazzaschi had fully intended this spring to move on from the moniker under which he made music dating back to his Chicago days and the 2004 debut, “This Is the Beginning of My Golden Age.” Now, after aligning with the MySpace Friends & Family Network in hopes the company’s artist development program will give his music the marketing muscle it’s never had, Mazzaschi is sticking with the Light FM name, and sound.

Less than a year after his underpromoted second album “Black Magic Marker” was released on the small indie label Devil in the Woods, Mazzaschi has another album ready. Aptly titled “Let There Be Light FM,” it’s a powerful 13-track array of sticky melodies, crunchy, fuzzed-out guitars and synths on steroids – imagine the Cars or MGMT with the sonic biceps of radio rockers such as Shiny Toy Guns. Yeah, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots with Moogs.

“After South by Southwest, I was leaning toward changing – a lot of it frustration from not being able to hold a band down,” Mazzaschi says. “I’d had the name since Chicago and I felt like I had a lot of baggage I was carrying around with it.”

What did change was the L.A. quartet’s lineup. Mazzaschi is now flanked by Nicole Fiorentino (Veruca Salt, Spinnerette) on bass, Byron Reynolds (Sea Wolf, Possum Dixon) on drums, and Canadian newcomer Sophia Male on keys. “Let There Be Light FM,” though, was largely a one-man production – Mazzaschi, who works as a studio engineer, laid down his new tracks in late-night sessions, and the album reflects a guy who’s unafraid to pull out all the stops, from layering the synths to liberal use of vocal effects. (“I don’t know why people have a problem with Autotune,” he says good-naturedly. “Whenever I hear somebody singing out of tune, I wish for it.”)

The album has its tender moments – Mazzaschi knows his way around a pop song – but impresses most with its tempered bombast. “I hope it sounds like what the old Light FM wanted to sound like,” he says. “We’ve always been a little heavier live, but I’ve never been able to capture that on record.”

Tentative plans call for “Let There Be Light FM” to be self-released in October.

Photo by Hayley Murphy