You all know that the team at Ultra5280 loves SXSW, so when we were told that SXSW awarded The Bright Light Social Hour six awards at the 2011 SXSW Austin Music Awards, you can bet your bottom dollar that it caught our attention. This band of long-haired, new-age, southern gentlemen have been slowly buzzing their way across the United States since 2010, collecting thoughts and feelings about the modern America they found themselves surrounded by. The band even kept a Tumblr during their tour entitled Future South, and used it to tell the stories of the people they stayed with while on the road. An amazing, deep, powerful collection of stories from 20-somethings smattered across the country, the Tumblr page’s description reads:
“We couldn't afford to stay in hotels most nights so we were staying with a lot of people. We got to see how average young Americans lived. We felt a lot of the struggle...We’re taking a lens to some of these gritty realities and espousing an optimistic, frontier-looking gaze into the future.”
These stirring realizations have been woven together into the band’s newest release, Space Is Still The Place - an eclectic rock/indie/funk/electronic blend of rhythms and sounds that breathe new life into the group’s “Future South” findings. From the biography on the band’s website, vocalist Curtis Roush explains “the South has great food, a relaxed pace, and sweet, well-mannered folk. However, a lot of issues aren’t going away. ‘Future South’ is both an aesthetic and political statement. We’re taking forms and influences from soul, blues, and gritty southern music and ushering them forward. ‘Future South’ evinces the south can be a vibrant egalitarian place. You can love barbecue and not be racist.”
