“In the album Right Person, Wrong Lifetime, Luigi Neighbours turns his experiences of love, loss and loneliness into six very personal songs which show that there is still a place for sincerity in rock.”
It’s pleasant to come across an artist who isn’t afraid to be sincere. At a time when so much music tends to be guarded or excessively calculated, Luigi Neighbours takes the opposite approach with his first EP, *Right Person, Wrong Lifetime*. The six-song collection is honest about love, heartbreak, loneliness, grief and hope, and it never presents these emotions as something one should hide. Rather, Luigi creates a whole world based on them. The EP begins with “Supernatural”, a track which shows the more mysterious aspect of Luigi’s artistic personality. Supernatural imagery plays a significant role in his world and provides the album with something that goes beyond simple songwriting about relationships. Luigi is concerned with things that we can never always explain—such as the feeling of someone staying in your thoughts, memories that won’t go away and emotions that can seem almost larger than reality. This is in keeping with his concept of Heartgrunge, where emotional rock combines with a darker, cinematic imagination.
The song ‘Out Of Tune’ approaches the idea of emotional disconnection. The title says a great deal; it is disturbing to be near someone and at the same time realise that you and they are no longer experiencing things in the same way. This song fits in with the EP’s broader exploration of relationships which don’t always come to an end because the feelings were false. People may simply cease to be in the same emotional place. This sense of distance is therefore a significant aspect of the track. Next is “Romance Isn’t Dead,” which appears to be one of the most clear expressions of who Luigi is as an artist. He frankly calls himself a hopeless romantic, and this honesty is at the heart of the song. Instead of growing cynical about love, Luigi decides to believe in it. It is not always easy to take that position, particularly in a society where being emotionally vulnerable can at times be seen as embarrassing. For Luigi, therefore, believing in romance becomes something that deserves to be defended. The song ‘Thank You’ adds another emotional dimension to the EP. Since the album is viewed in the context of Luigi’s experience of losing his father, gratitude is just as significant as sadness. Although losing someone can result in anger, questions and a sense of emptiness, it can also lead us to reflect on the people who had an influence on us and on the things they gave us. ‘Thank You’ is linked to that aspect of the record – the awareness that even when a person is no longer physically there, their influence can still remain. The song ‘Surrogate You’ carries on the theme of absence and longing that has been explored in the EP. The title itself implies a wish to discover something which can occupy the place left by another person. However, it is never really that simple to replace someone. A substitute may offer some temporary comfort, but it can never fully replicate a specific kind of connection. Because of this, the song fits well within an EP which constantly returns to the complex area lying between wanting someone, missing someone and learning how to go on without them.
There’s also the title song, “Right Person, Wrong Lifetime”. This track combines a number of the ideas that are throughout the whole project: love that comes at the wrong time, the obstacles posed by circumstances, the yearning for what might have been, and the aching awareness that at times strong emotions aren’t sufficient to make two people’s lives match. The title immediately suggests a story, and since it serves as the final expression of the EP’s main idea, it gives the entire record a definite emotional character. The reason why these songs have greater significance is the stage of life that Luigi went through when he composed them. Having suddenly lost his father in 2024, he was made to reconsider his views on time and on the things people always tell themselves they will do some day. He travelled on his own, wrote music in Norway and later moved from the Netherlands to London. It was these experiences that formed the basis of this record. The philosophy behind the way the EP treats love is clear. Luigi does not present romance as being perfect; rather, loneliness is included, along with grief, disappointment and uncertainty. At the same time, there is a refusal to give up on connection. Luigi’s musical style is based on the rock music which was the first to make him fall in love with the genre, especially that of the 2000s such as Nickelback, Daughtry, Lifehouse and The Goo Goo Dolls.
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