London – Beings is an accomplished third studio album from Newcastle-based outfit, Lanterns On The Lake, offering up a rich amalgam of post-rock and indie-folk with traditional nuances, fused with a splash of electronica and shoegaze. That may be quite enough labels as the essence is that the band charts a singular course of its own. Though reduced in number to four of its founding members, Hazel Wilde (vocals, guitar and piano), guitarist/producer Paul Gregory and the rhythm section of bassist Bob Allan and drummer Ol Ketteringham, augmented by Angela Chan on violin, cello and viola, its current sound is not too dissimilar to that which went before. Lyrically Lanterns On The Lake proudly wears its social conscience on its sleeve. The band’s core imaginings are still rooted in economic austerity and its effects on individuals and communities, although the unexpected election of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the UK’s Labour Party may have subsequently brightened horizons.
As entrancing as it is disquieting, Beings presents a double-edged sword. The sheer beauty of much of this record threatens to course over and absorb you yet the sharp edge of Hazel Wilde’s lyrics maintains a dissonance that underlines not all is well with her world. The first track, “Of Dust & Matter” illustrates just that; beginning with a low burst of static and feedback before giving way to portentous piano chords and Wilde’s opening gambit – “I’m spitting out the dust / For all of us / But I keep the best inside”. The song’s self-destructive tone is echoed by waves of twisted guitar, drums rolls and piano frills and a vocal that runs a gamut of raw emotion ending up in whispered tones more akin to Kate Bush. It suggests a broader canvas but by contrast, the grandiose “I’ll Stall Them” sounds very much a continuation of where LOTL left off with its epic second album, Until The Colours Run.
“Faultlines” equally seems like a companion song to the exceptional “Another Tale From Another English Town” from Colours, yet its tone is much more of a call to action than a quiet requiem: “Fractured lives like fault lines / Unto the breach my friends, if you will” intones Wilde against a wall of reverberating guitar and increasingly strident piano.
The record has disquieting graphic passages evidenced in the simmering intoxication of “The Crawl” and also its tranquil moments of beauty. It’s hard not to be entranced by the circular piano and quivering string refrain of “Send Me Home” – a gently self-deprecating tale with a twist in the telling: “Because the wide-eyed in me always has something to sing”.
Hazel Wilde’s shimmering, breathy vocal has an added rawness to it on much of the album, reflecting a shift in tone from her earlier work lyrically. There is a forlorn beauty to the music as LOTL shifts gears, flawlessly from music box melodies to dark, foreboding soundscapes. This is never better illustrated than in the meandering, expansive title song where humanity is pigeonholed, categorised but united in yearning for something better than the simple now. It’s an aspiration that Lanterns On The Lake has risen to and achieved with this latest chapter.
Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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