Taylor Hughes, aka Pure XTC (stylised as pure xtc) has unleashed a brand new track, “Lighter”.
pure xtc released her debut EP, Nobody’s Home in 2021 and her sophomore EP, Shed My Skin in 2022. She not only writes and sings, but she also plays the drums, guitar, bass, keys and is classical trained on piano, violin, and cello.
Music pours itself out of pure xtc’s aura and so does the light.
“Lighter” has a wonderful underlying beat and pure xtc has used auto tune perfectly to accent her vocals at the beginning of the song. But what I like about the song the most are the lyrics. pure xtc is using the word lighter as the object that projects light or flame, but the word is also comforting as I feel that while singing or listening, one can’t help but to feel lighter from the song.
She says this of the song,
I can pinpoint a conversation I had with my friend/producer, Walter Kazmier over the last winter. I told him I was ‘working on something that felt like a different direction, with more organic tones and textures that are a little foreign to the pure xtc soundscape. ‘Lighter’ has big fuzzy guitars over bombastic drums and a piano, but there’s still a lot of synth. Like a ton.
While pure xtc is nothing like Linkin Park, while listening to “Lighter”, I kept thinking of “In the End”. Perhaps it’s the piano, the beats, the underlying guitar, or that like the Linkin Park hit, the lyrics to “Lighter” connect on a visceral level.
“Lighter” is optimistic, hopeful, and an inspiring ode to someone or to those that are the light in the dark for others.
Listen to “Lighter” below
