ISSA - 'Lights of Japan'

The excellent first track, ‘Live Again’, starts with a stabby keyboard riff reminiscent of Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway’ so we know we’re in 80s rock territory, and the title track also has a ‘runners in the night’ reference too, so maybe we’re blinded by the ‘Lights of Japan’?

‘Seize the Day’ is a great hard-riffing up-tempo song and Ms Overseen really gets to let rip with an excellent vocal. She also really soars on ‘Chains of Love’ and several others. I’m not sure she generally gets the credit she deserves, as she flies under the radar by not performing live much or flashing the flesh on social media, but she really is one of the best at what she does.

‘Stop the Rain’ is mid-tempo and might have a guest spoken-word segment from newsreader, Huw Edwards? It’s an eco-song, which is fine, but I generally prefer my melodic rocks songs to be about lighter and fluffier things. They do bring the sax-y back on the following ‘Moon of Love’ though which features some welcome saxophone blasts throughout. You know within 1 second of the intro for ‘I’ll Give You My Heart’ that it’s a power-ballad and it is very good. Presumably it was written by James and I wonder if it is weird to put words like this in your wife’s mouth?

Overall, this is very enjoyable release for those that appreciate good melodic rock. A ‘Best of’ album and some live dates would be an excellent follow-up.