'Light Me Up' - The Pretty Reckless

The Pretty Reckless were always going to attract attention with their debut album ‘Light Me Up’ - Taylor Momsen, the ‘main attraction’ in the band, best known for her role in TV series ‘Gossip Girl’ playing Jenny Humphrey; however Jenny and Taylor are two very different characters. This may be why ‘Light Me Up’ comes as such a surprise to many. Momsen’s vocal ability for a start, is totally unexpected. Only 16 years old when ‘Light Me Up’ was recorded, Momsen delivers low, grungy vocals, the kind you might expect from someone with years more experience; not just in the music industry, but life experience too - ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ starts off with the lyric ‘I was 19, you were 29, it’s just ten years but it’s such a long time’ and goes on to ‘late night sex, smokin’ cigarettes’, which coming from a 16 year old (Momsen and Ben Phillips write all their songs) makes you feel it’s just a little bit ‘wrong’. However, it’s refreshing in that a lot of teen singers around at the moment who put on an act of innocence then go on to have that facade destroyed (looking at you Miley Cyrus), and Momsen says herself “I’m not just writing something because I feel people might like it, I’m writing it because I have something to say”. And she definitely has a lot to say.

Each song on ‘Light Me Up’ tells a story. Momsen says “It covers everything: love, death and music itself. It’s rock and roll. It’s sex. It’s drugs. It’s religion. It’s politics.” From the emo-cliches in ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ to the despair in ‘You’, Momsen seems to have experienced and observed a lot for her years, however, you can’t help thinking that her lyrics aren’t derived from personal experiences - at 16 years old, surely someone can’t have been through that much? Nevertheless, she produces brilliant lyrics, allbeit not entirely personal ones. The Pretty Reckless take influence from Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes and The Who amongst many others, and their influence could be why ‘Light Me Up’ is so much heavier than people might expect from pretty little Jenny Humphrey. Massive guitar riffs and strong, heavy drums - all these factors make it a brilliant album, and one for every fan of a bit of rock. 

‘Light Me Up’ is a perfect grunge-pop album made for rocking out to, and once Momsen has grown up and had some real life experience, then we can expect even better things to come from The Pretty Reckless. But if they are to become bigger, then expect something massive. Because ‘Light Me Up’ is already pretty huge.

For fans of: Band of Skulls, Blondie, Pink
Rating: 8/10