If you haven’t listened to Bright Light Bright Light’s new album, Enjoy Youth, you’re missing out!
The Welsh-born Rod Thomas has very impressive resume: He has released 5 studio albums to date: Make Me Believe In Hope (2012), Life Is Easy (2014), Choreography (2016) and Fun City (2020) which was UK #1 Dance Album featuring 12 LGBTQ+ collaborators and his most recent album, Enjoy Youth. He has also toured with the likes of Cher, Ellie Goulding, Erasure, Scissor Sisters and Sir Elton John (with whom he played an impressive 55 shows). But beyond his stellar list of achievements (as an independent artist no less), he’s also a really nice guy who truly cares about his fans and finds meaningful ways to interact with them. Indeed, New Yorkers are lucky they get to experience his DJ skills at the weekly Romy & Michele’s Saturday Tea Dance at Club Cumming - highly recommended if you haven’t been to one yet.
His official bio lists music and cinema from the 80s and 90s as his primary influences and his work has been described as "cinematic glorious euphoria" (DJ Times Magazine) and "fabulous" (Elton John), while exuding "Working Girl-era realness" (Rolling Stone) - high praise indeed! He also has a knack for creating the most amazing mashups!
Enjoy Youth was released on 17 May with banging tracks featuring vocals from Berri, Sam Harper, Ultra Naté, Mykal Kilgore and Beth Hirsch. According to Curtis M. Wong from The Huffington Post, the album reminds listeners that “Bright Light Bright Light hasn’t lost his penchant for killer basslines and witty lyrics that reflect his queer sexuality”, describing it as “a nonstop party, kicking off with You Want My..., which puts a sinister twist on the horny sentiments of George Michael’s 1987 smash, I Want Your Sex”.
I was super excited to attend the album’s launch party at C’mon Everybody, a queer owned and operated bar and independent venue in Brooklyn. It was amazing to experience BLBL live in such an intimate setting. It was clear that he was thrilled to be sharing some of the songs from the album with us and extremely proud of how well the album has done in its first week (as he should be!). Some personal highlights from the show:
Two songs with Mykal Kilgore (whose amazing vocals are featured on my favorite song from Enjoy Youth, Heartslap)
Running Back Back To You (a song from the album Choreography, featuring vocals from Sir Elton John)
Open Heart (from the album Life Is Easy)
The fire choreo from his backup dancers
You Want My…(another one of my favs from Enjoy Youth)
And Rod’s jean shorts
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