I’ve featured Lydia before, but instead of something from their current album, Paint it Golden, this time it’s an older track from Illuminate (2008), which is one of my absolute favorite albums of all time.
“One More Day” is painfully acute in its poignancy. It’s dark, marvelous and intricately composed. As always, Leighton Antelman’s delivery is earnest and the interplay between this and the softness of Mindy White’s vocals creates a haunting contrast. I’m also in love with the guitars on this song, from the distortion on the electric that runs throughout to the solo in the bridge (around 2:15), and the placement of the latter following an elegant piano solo kills me.
I chose a live version partially out of nostalgia, but some of the musical subtleties get lost (along with a few seconds in the beginning. :\ hrm), so here’s a clean version as well! :D
Among its many strengths, Illuminate is cohesively seamless without feeling like a contrived concept album. In a sequence that I could equate to the Holy Trinity of the whole album, “One More Day” follows “Stay Awake” and “All I See,” two songs that are softer in both sound and sentiment, so when this song shows up it’s almost alarming, audacious even.
Illuminate is available online at both Amazon and iTunes, but I urge you to pick up the physical album because, as you can see from the above, Becky Filip’s art is exquisitely gorgeous. (Psst. She’s having a sale on her art until the 10th! I got a couple of prints last year, and they are well worth the money. They also make great holiday gifts!)
Lydia is also going out on tour around Australia at the start of next year; check out the dates here.
Also, yes, my birthday is tomorrow so [bad] pun intended– but it doesn’t change the fact that this song is magnificent.
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