Shine A Light Turns 20

Maybe it’s different in Canada. From my Midwestern American vantage point, Constantines were not mythologized into the indie rock canon anywhere close to the extent of their more successful peers, so it’s easy to forget how amazing they were — so easy that I almost did not remember to write a 20th anniversary tribute to the band’s sophomore LP Shine A Light, one of those records so powerful and enthralling that it sends my adrenaline flowing and seems to breathe fresh life into my lungs. That would have been a major oversight and a terrible injustice. Fortunately, someone mentioned in our Discord this afternoon that the record is turning 20 years old this Saturday, and now the crisis has been averted. Those seeking a deep dive on Constantines would do well to revisit Stuart Berman’s piece on the band’s self-titled debut, but there’s no time left to give that treatment to Shine A Light. Instead of a carefully considered essay about the album’s splendor, you’re getting a bloggy, first-thought-best-thought geek-out session. Let the plaudits commence!