Label: Holy Are You/PrescriptionPR 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
Whatever happened to Krautrock, psychedelic progressive space rock and eighties UK indie music? Look no further as the Carlisle U.K. act of The Lucid Dream has arrived to the scene with an impressive sophomore album that reeks of experimentation and art-noise. It's just so fookin' vivid and 'out there' that you either going to love or hate this with a passion. It's basically the melodic acid journey through time and space and plenty of trips back and forward as their spaceship make several stops to pick up all the best freaks in the universe.
You need to spin this over some time to truly appreciate all aspects of The Lucid Dream. It's an album that grows bigger and weirder with each listen up to a certain point of course. The production by Ross Holden is anything but sterile and Mark Emmerson's vocals are of very high standard and there's no need to worry about any Hawkwind-like grunts and roars.
Opening track "Mona Lisa" gets this space ship trucking with eight minutes of instrumental Armageddon 'ala Joy Division meet Neu! I'd say that bass-player Mike Denton likes to rip and trip in the style of droning and looping the bass pattern over the repetitive drum beat. Check out "Cold Killer" for some Can and Neu! rock meet the utter darkness of Joy Division. "Moonstruck" is a lovely horror/terror struck nightmare track as well as the fastest sell-out in Too Pure Singles Club's history, selling out a month in advance of release, coinciding with sold out UK dates. Closing track, "You and I", bits and pieces of some old tune by Marlene Dietrich or Édith Piaf? I don't know? it's one of those ancient gals of the way back time. Also the nod to the 60's and psych for that matter. Weird and fun stuff.
Sidestepping any current top-20 musical trends, their self-titled release rises like a f**ked up Phoenix on dope and deep-fried Mars bars only to slowly get back to earth with a lovely awful crash and sound. Try this if you're into hallucination and the melting pot of acts such as: Aphrodite's Child, CAN, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Joy Division, Neu!, Spacemen 3. etc. Wicked indeed.
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