This is the fourth album from UK doom/post-rock band 40 Watt Sun.
Following on from 2022’s highly emotive Perfect Light comes the 45-minute Little Weight, and let me tell you it’s quite the record. It’s a journey into richly crafted emotion, one that aches with affecting depth.
Whereas Perfect Light was stylistically a very stripped back affair with a long gestation period, Little Weight shares more in common with the band’s earlier work than Perfect Light did, and was crafted in a much shorter period of time. In general terms, this means stylistically that Little Weight gives us a charismatic form of doom metal and post-rock, effortlessly merging the two into heartfelt songs that are distinctly 40 Watt Sun. The end result is an album that effectively mixes the band’s previous album with 2011’s The Inside Room, making for a captivating collection of new music for listeners to become absorbed in.
Little Weight drips with authentic emotion, delivering six songs that are drenched in feeling. As always, the singer’s plaintive voice is the expressive focal point of the music, although this is not to minimise the impact of the drums, bass, and guitar. All are essential ingredients in the Little Weight recipe, but the sorrowful vocals tie everything together nicely. I should also note that while the overall feeling of the record is melancholic and mournful, this is still a record of great beauty and is illuminated in key places with bright rays of hope.
Little Weight offers the discerning musical connoisseur a sublime listening experience. Each of the songs showcases a band that play music that comes straight from the heart. It’s a record that grows in power with each listen, gradually working its way further and further into your very being.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 