Lycia - A Line That Connects (2015)

2016-03-17T16:51:54Z

Lycia - A Line That Connects (2015)


01. The Fall Back
02. Monday Is Here
03. Silver Leaf
04. A Trade Out
05. Blue
06. An Awakening
07. The Rain
08. Bright Like Stars
09. The Light Room
10. Illuminate
11. A Ghost Ascends
12. Hiraeth
13. Autumn Moon
14. The Only Way Through Is Out

David Galas – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, mixing, lead vocals (7, 13)
Mike VanPortfleet – lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer
Tara Vanflower – lead vocals
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Michael Irwin – backing vocals (11)
Sera Timms – backing vocals (12)

When darkwave legends Lycia returned from the musical wilderness with Quiet Moments in 2013, it was widely hailed as a stellar comeback for the band. While I certainly enjoyed the album, I couldn’t help but feel that they were just warming up. Quiet Moments is unquestionably a good record, a great record even, but it also struck me as the work of an artist attempting to fully regain their footing after some fairly lengthy gaps between releases (seven years between Empty Space and the Fifth Sun EP, three years between Fifth Sun and QM).

If Quiet Moments was the sound of Lycia just getting their feet wet, then A Line That Connects is the sound of Mike VanPortfleet and company diving in headfirst, producing what is arguably the band’s finest work since 1996’s Cold. That’s pretty high praise to heap on an album that technically hasn’t even been released yet as of this writing, but trust me when I say that this is both an immense and immersive piece of work, the kind of album you listen to in total solitude with a good set of headphones and lose yourself in, your body, mind and soul given over completely to its infinite strata of icy guitar distortion and ethereal synthesizers.

A Line That Connects moves through a variety of styles over the course of its fourteen tracks, from the traditional darkwave dirge of “The Fall Back” to the danceable gothic rock of “The Rain” to the quasi-industrial crush of “Illuminate.” Lycia’s strengths are many, which means there isn’t a single dud to be found here no matter what direction they choose to take their songwriting in. It’s a diverse listen, but there is a thread of cold, all-encompassing gloom that ties the album together, allowing it to form a stunningly cohesive whole.

While Quiet Moments felt largely like a VanPortfleet solo album, A Line That Connects sees increased contributions from longtime cohort/spouse Tara Vanflower, her angelic croon juxtaposing itself beautifully against the dark melancholy of the compositions whether taking on lead vocal duties or working its subtle magic in the background. The album also marks the return of frequent collaborator David Galas, who appeared on many of the band’s most revered albums. This sounds and feels like vintage Lycia through and through; one of the rare cases where reassembling a band’s “classic lineup” has produced new material on par with their previous works.

It’s a joy to see an artist as gifted as VanPortfleet releasing music on the regular again, especially when the results are as excellent as this. A Line That Connects is the very definition of a late career masterpiece, an album that reminds us how Lycia achieved godhead status amongst the darkwave faithful. --- isolationgrind.com

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Lycia - Quiet Moments (2013)

2018-06-29T13:18:21Z

Lycia - Quiet Moments (2013)


1 	Quiet Moments 	8:16
2 	The Visitor 	4:32
3 	Antarctica 	8:14
4 	Greenland 	8:27
5 	Grand Rapids 	5:51
6 	The Pier 	3:34
7 	Spring Trees 	4:35
8 	The Wind Sings 	4:32
9 	Dead Leaves Fall 	5:18
10 	Dead Star, Cold Star 	5:33
11 	The Soil Is Dead 	5:01

Mike VanPortfleet – vocals, synthesizer, guitar, drum machine
Tara Vanflower - additional vocals on 'Spring Trees' and 'The Soil Is Dead'

For over two decades, Arizona's Lycia have been pioneers of “darkwave,” a reverb-drenched, gothic take on dreampop. Quiet Moments, their first release for Handmade Birds, is a somber, but beautiful collection that offers an intriguing meditation on mystery and loss.

For over two decades, Arizona's Lycia have been pioneers of “darkwave,” a reverb-drenched, gothic take on dreampop. This is the Cocteau Twins, if they looked so far inward that they began to focus on the darker, downer-ridden side. Along with lovesliescrushing, who freed shoegaze from pop conventions, they became one of the noteworthy and boundary-pushing acts on the goth music label Projekt. Quiet Moments, their first release for Handmade Birds (run by Rich Loren of Pyramids, Sailors With Wax Wings, and White Moth), is consistent with their past efforts, while remaining an intriguing headphone journey.

At this point, Lycia are basically Mike VanPortfleet, the multi-instrumentalist has always been the band's creative center, though longtime member Tara Vanflower contributes vocals to “The Soil Is Dead” and Spring Trees”. They sound like a band that takes their time. It's not just in the pace of the music, but in all of the layers. Somber synths permeate the record, often drawling and creating a fog that covers everything. The percussion is mechanical, and its repetitiveness lends to the drone. Guitars sound like disembodied rock solos, severed from boogie and strangled out into something darkly beautiful. There are faint memories of sweet leads from radio jams, but they become mutated and placed into a context wholly unlike anything that would resemble rock. In particular, the guitars bring to mind the lush metal of October Rust-era Type O Negative, albeit spaced out and even more blissful. Peter Steele was an early champion of Lycia, stating in an interview from 1995 that their album A Day in the Stark Corner had a great effect on him: “If I put it on in the morning when I get up...I'm useless for the rest of the day. It's just devastating, as beautiful as it is devastating.” Lycia opened for Type O Negative on some of the dates in support of Rust. He picked up on their sound for one of the band's biggest albums, and Lycia are returning the favor in their own way on Moments.

If they could, Lycia would probably name all of their albums Cold, the title of their record from 1996. It's an apt word for their sound, which, like the Rockies in December, can be as unforgiving as it is serene. “Antarctica” and “Greenland”, whose names and placements next to each other on Moments could hardly be considered a coincidence, represent Moments at its most frost-bitten. ---Andy O'Connor, pitchfork.com

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Rock, Metal

Lycia - A Line That Connects (2015)

Lycia - Quiet Moments (2013)