HOLY YOU ARE RECORDINGS 23rd September 2016
Imagine Spritualised with a sense of fun, imagine The Happy Mondays with a brain, imagine The Byrds gone way beyond 8 Miles High: The Lucid Deam’s third album is baggy, psychedelic, dancey and trippy. Full of memorable riffs, swirly sounds and spirit, the album is addictive.
Flitting from Manchester baggy to dub reggae to swirling psychedelia to Krautrock impelling beats, the set is varied yet all of-a-piece, making a cohesive slab of my new favourite drug and epic all the way. From the opening Bad Texan, with its crashing, echoing distorto-guitar, the album wins. There is a compelling dance drag-beat; very nineties baggy. Stormy Waters is a jigging, bopping nineties pysch-revival with a droning voice. I’m A Star In My Own Right is the must-hear track. Throbbing bass leads a deep dubby baggy reggae dance step over a mighty eight minutes. The Emptiest Place is all slack, echoey singing after surf-western guitar and clip-clop drums have set the scene. 21st Century is a mini-wig-out with abandoned vocals hanging on tight. The other stand-out is the closing two-parter of Nadir / Epitaph. A voice on reverb, reminiscent of Jah Wobble going into deep space, is atop lovely rubbery bass notes and sequencer before a speedy space ride into eleven minutes of rebounding wavering melody over shoegaze fuzz. It’s gonzo baggy and shows how dancey they are; things get Krautrock in a way Krautrock rarely did. Phasing effects push the beat around and the guitar twangs tightly. It’s a shame legal highs aren’t, um, legal anymore but this isn’t a bad recreation of rushing madly in a crowded venue on the most delicious beats you’ve ever heard.
I’m kicking myself – how have I missed the first two albums from this Carlisle band? However, I’m grateful I’ve got the pleasure ahead of me. This is the sort of record you want to share, to say “hear this, don’t you love it”. That’s what I’m doing – you need to hear this now.