Hoping to restore some cultural pride to Newcastle following the rather unflattering portrayal of their hometown on MTV reality show Geordie Shore, "folktronica" sextet
Lanterns on the Lake couldn't be further removed from the loud perma-tanned wannabes who have given the city a rather derisory name. Subtlety may be an alien concept to their fame-hungry neighbors, but the collective's debut album,
Gracious Tide, Take Me Home, positively revels in it, as Hazel Wilde's gorgeously hushed vocals whisper an array of slow-burning melodies on 11 atmospheric tracks spaciously filled with gentle acoustics, softly brushed percussion, and soothing ambient electronica. Indeed, you could hear a pin drop on the sparse 73-second closer, "Not Going Back to the Harbour," the echo-laden Americana of "You're Almost There," and the mournful sea shanty "Ships in the Rain," a heartbreaking lament to a local fisherman who went missing at sea, all of which bear the hallmarks of the album's isolated Northumberland recording surroundings. But guitarist Paul Gregory's ethereal production ensures that the nocturnal vibes never become snooze-inducing. Opener "Lungs Quicken" starts out as a trippy fusion of shimmering guitars, gentle piano hooks, and twitchy percussion before bursting into life with a stunning
Sigur Rós-esque cinematic chamber pop finale, a trick that is also repeated on the sparse minimal folk of "I Love You, Sleepyhead;" there are echoes of the enchanting late-'80s jangly indie pop of
the Sundays on the mournful Celtic-tinged "If I've Been Unkind" (featuring a rare lead vocal from guitarist Adam Sykes) and the haunting strings and looped claustrophobic beats of "Keep on Trying;" while "Tricks" combines twinkling glockenspiels, pounding organ chords, and alt-country violins with a hypnotic tribal beat. A misguided re-recording of "A Kingdom" (one of three reworkings of tracks taken from previously released EPs), which turns the fragile shoegazing ballad into a rather frenetic slice of nu-folk, suggests the bandmembers were wise to avoid any more excursions into uptempo territory. But luckily, the majority of
Gracious Tide, Take Me Home plays to the band's beautifully swooning strengths, and in doing so, produces one of the most majestic debuts from a British act this year. ~ Jon O'Brien