Light Years: 'Lite Years'

Written by Robin Ervolina
It's easier to start hating someone you love when you have the bubble gum sadness and wine cooler angst of a good pop punk tune. Enter Light Years' Lite Years, the sugar cube in your whiskey, the scented sharpie in your briefcase, the millennial blues to your Gen-X disillusionment. Comprised of Pat Kennedy (vocals/guitar), Tommy Englert (bass), Andrew Foerst (guitar) and Kent Sliney (drums), Light Years presents three acoustic versions of songs selected from their acclaimed I’ll See You When I See You LP, and one brilliant cover of Bruce Springsteen's, “Atlantic City.” Lite Years permeates the air with nostalgia and self-flagellation in a way only a true pop punk production can. “The Summer She Broke My Heart” is airy and bright, stripping the sting from the bleakness of heartbreak. Kennedy’s sweet, sweet voice in “Accidents” delivers lines like “Starting to see I’m just a bad seed that won’t grow into anything,” and “If you knew how much I hate me, would you still try to save me?” “Let You Down” bleeds of blame sung in two-harmony and is my favorite tune on this EP. I don’t know if The Boss is a fan of this genre, but I do think he’d approve of Light Year’s cover of “Atlantic City.” It’s very cool to hear a pop punk cover of an American classic, and Light Years does it justice within their genre. If possible, they darken the storyline even more (it’s that pop punk, yearning vocal styling), and the irony of that alone is worth the download.
I’ve always been a fan of pop punk, so this EP fits perfectly into my playlist between Green Day and Blink 182. You can download Lite Years, released today via Rude Records, on iTunes. It's also available for streaming on Spotify.