Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The search for the light is never ending, it takes up so much of our time on Earth that we can blink and miss the signal to start our own lives, rummage around our own personal lighthouse and make sure all the boats on the distant waters are safe from the harm of the rocks we place around them. The Guiding Light is the principal of safety and the escort who will lead you into the protected hands of trustworthy, it is a principle that Gary Maginnis & The Like hold dear and with dependable cool.

The third single of the year for the band sees a stately feel come into force in the song, one of the dichotomies of two possible paths open and with a clear determination, a sign with bright lights and neon heart securing the right possible choice, the perfect and most interesting preferences to shoulder.

Written by bass player Declan Sands, the song is full of marriage, it nestled in the abundant comfort but it is also fully aware that each person is both light house keeper and possible lantern holder, the observant crew member standing diligently as the blackness rolls in and the storm clouds gather and the wrecker on the shoreline who hopes for a fall and entices the ship to flounder and dash upon the rocks; this is the difference between staying positive and allowing the ship in your care to crash and spill the precious cargo of your mind.

Staying positive in the face of overwhelming odds can be a test of character but as Gary Maginnis, Declan Sands, Shane Sweeney and the backing vocals of Claire Smith attest, being positive is not only a test but is a stipulation of being human, that music can achieve this and the best Guiding Lights are those you listen to with passion.

A great third single from the band, Guiding Lights is the positivity needed to see through the dark.

Ian D. Hall