B.C. Camplight: popular songwriting made cool... again. by Helena Cohen Perhaps I'm shooting myself in the foot. Maybe I'll regret ever writing this. As a music snob, it's very satisfying to be aware of an artist that no one else is hip to yet. That's why what I'm about to say goes against everything I believe in. If Mass Broadcast has shown us anything, it's that South Jersey and Philadelphia are packed with plenty of good music. You simply have to dig a little deeper for it than you would most other places. That's why it should come as no surprise when I tell you that the next great popular songwriter walks among us... a Burt Bacharach for the new millennium, if you will. On his debut album, "Hide, Run Away", B.C. Camplight displays a talent which seems to be lacking in most modern music; the ability to pen a truly strong, thoughtful melody. One listen to this album can renew your faith in the modern songwriter. The arrangements, however, are far from traditional, blending horns, synthesizers, and strings around his piano-driven songs. What's more unusual at times, is his lyrical tendency to gravitate toward the bizarre. "Parapaleejo" seems to recall romantic feelings for a handicapped girl at the circus, while the doe-eyed sweetness of "Emily's Dead To Me" finds our protagonist professing his love for his girlfriend's mother. All-in-all, it's this combination of the strange and the familiar which keep the listener coming back for more. What good would it do to write the same tired love songs that have been around for years? "Hide, Run Away" feeds my desire for stories I haven't heard before, without trying too hard or becoming repetitious. At the same time, this album reminds me of what a strong pop melody is capable of making me feel inside.