Note from Editor: Dan is trying to put across a conversation between the reviewer and the reader here, just in case you got confused like I did. Works in an abstract way.
“Songs of Lies and Deceit”, the debut LP from Northern rockers The Lucid Dream, is an expertly blended cocktail of aurally pleasing hooks and impressively credible musicality, somehow managing to nostalgically allude to a plethora of genres both firmly established and long forgotten throughout its nine tracks.
“Does he think I care what he’s saying? He can use all the wanky words he wants, it doesn’t mean anything; If he thinks I’m going to take 40-50 minutes out of my day to listen to an album just because he, an unpaid, internet writer said to, then he really is as much of a twat as he sounds.”
Most of the album is enjoyably edgy and unhinged, an almost tribal psychedelica. This is perhaps best demonstrated in tracks such as “Glue (Song for Irvine Welsh)”, and the fantastic, lengthy closer “Sweet Hold on Me”, which somehow manages to legitimately combine early-Kasabian, current-Horrors, and any era-Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: a satisfying cocktail to be sure!
“Right, so they’re so amazing that he’s dedicated a whole paragraph to comparing them to other bands because he can’t think of anything to say himself. What’s the matter, little English graduate didn’t learn enough words on his to express himself properly? Pathetic, next he’ll be comparing them to Animal Collec..”
A perfectly placed juxtaposition in tone can be found in tracks such as “In Your Eyes”, which contains a structure highly reminiscent of Animal Collective by way of its Panda Bear-esque vocals being placed within the dense, psychedelic mix that is the rest of the song’s soundscape. However, unlike AC this is accessible music, showcasing the band’s ability to measure up the psychedelic revival currently being spearheaded by bands such as Peace in their own, unique way, transforming it into something even more varied and entertaining than any other artists in the same ballpark.
“So this is the bit where he talks like he understands the whole music industry, despite knowing nothing beyond the current Radio 1 playlist and an ironic, forced love for Joy Division. He thinks he’s Radiohead when he’s more like Timmy Mallet…”
Obviously there will be some cynicism directed at the level of praise demonstrated here, but all it takes is 40-50 minutes out of your day to hear something amazing. It’s not worth me using transports of vocabulary to describe it when you can hear it for yourself! It’s not often that a young band comes out with something genuinely different, and I imagine it was similar when Joy Division and Radiohead released some of their earlier work, but The Lucid Dream really have managed it.
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