'Light them up' is the standout debut from South West UK band Neon Fields. It is 6 minutes 40 seconds in length but unlike some Netflix series, at no point does this seem overstretched or lack periods of quality. It feels like the band take us on an epic journey from start to finish. It doesn't follow the scripted patterned format that you see in many songs and it holds intensity throughout, evoking anticipation in the masses.
The intro beat reminds me of a soundtrack of an intimidating enemy advancing their forces. It strikes a threatening tone before the melodic vocals start to open up against the menacing backdrop. Most of the song has a grand feel that it is building up to something monumental. I really enjoyed the special effects after 5 Minutes 30 which lead into a herculean finale where the kitchen sink gets thrown at this thing. This is a well crafted and creative debut performed on point and is sure to win an immediate following.
The song centres around a paranoid schizophrenic who is convinced that he is being watched and hunted. Aware of his madness and yet believing the voices invading his thoughts, he feels the only solution to find peace is to detonate explosives as 'they' close in on his location, blowing himself up and taking the 'hunters' with him. The track is accompanied by an exciting music video, which showcases the bands on stage performance.
South West UK based trio Neon Fields combine industrial rock with atmospheric synth and dark melancholic vocals to create their brand of Indie Electronic Rock. Formed in 2020 by Ed Barrett (lead vocals), Luke Russe (drums), and Piers Ward (keyboards/guitar), they have now released ‘Light Them Up’, the first single from their upcoming EP which will launch mid 2021. Speaking about how lockdown has had its mixed affects Ed told us 'The past year has been so hard for so many people and certainly something we all want to see the back of but the weird thing is, I absolutely believe that if lockdown hadn’t happened we would currently be creating music that I’m not as passionate about.'
In 2018, after a ten year hiatus from writing, Ed began to pick up where he left off and begin writing music again. He recalls 'I was using GarageBand on my iPhone to create industrial electronic rock tracks that I would then put vocals over, I was really enjoying writing heavy, bassy synth tracks with dark vocals over the top, and I created 6 or 7 tracks which were considered to be ‘drafts’ but decided to release them onto soundcloud in mid 2019. Now that I had tracks released to give direction to the type of music I wanted to create, It was time to move things forward and get other people involved to form a band'.
Ed began to trial a few band formations and initially failed to find the exact fit for what he was looking for but soon struck gold when he found Piers on a music website with the two hitting it off instantly. Shortly after, they were pointed in the direction of Luke who became the drummer for the band. The band started out being named 'Cage of Lions' who wrote and performed conventional rock music but Ed was eager to maintain an electric synth element that he is so passionate about. Originally it was decided that they wanted a synth player as part of the band but after failing to find the right match they went on to recruit a bass player instead but he parted ways with the band at a later date due to different preferences of musical styles and the bass not fitting in with the sound they wanted to produce. The band went on to rename themselves 'Neon Fields'. Ed told Globelink Music that he credits lockdown as allowing them to focus on the sound they wanted to produce with him being able to concentrate on the writing and the vocal aspect. Piers was able to use the time to advance his synth and electronic production skills, which were originally earmarked for his previous project named 'Nine Borders' and Luke was able to use an electronic drum kit to refine his percussion technique to suit the style of the band. Ed acclaims Pier's immense talents to being able to produce a more sophisticated and impressive sound. He also states that the awesome drum work from Luke helped to enhance and elevate the tracks to a new level. Due to the electronic nature of the music they were producing the band found it easy to collaborate remotely and cement the style that they were keen to achieve. Speaking about the process Ed says 'Lockdown and remote collaboration forced us to change the way we were writing together and as a result our sound became more aligned with the style we had all been wanting to create in the first place. I found that evolution so exciting and no longer felt like our music was a compromise of what I’d set to do.'
Here is the link to "Light them up" Neon Fields - Light Them Up - YouTube
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