You have to hand it to Cumbrian four-piece The Lucid Dream, they picked the most fitting name for a psychedelic band….ever. Their soundthroughout debut album ‘Songs of Lies and Deceit’ feels as mind-alteringly vivid and altogether outer-bodily as a lucid dream with each track drawing on separate and distinct elements from their vast collection of influences.
If you weren’t familiar with the psychedelic genre before, opening track ‘How’s Your Low When You’re Low Alone?’ is sure to show you how it’s done with distant Primal Scream-esque vocals, heavy drone rock influences and an ever-changing tempo that has the power to unsettle. Its hazy backing is reminiscent of Suicide’s ‘Ghost Rider’ or ‘Cool As Ice’; consistent and unnerving. ‘Love In My Veins’, however, has a much more 13th Floor Elevators finish to it, a quality achieved by meeting an upbeat feel, faint background harmonies and a guitar focus. It’s a stand out track that has that alluring unpolished sound to it.
It doesn’t take long to notice how hugely varied and unpredictable this album is. Much like Spacemen 3’s ‘Forged Prescriptions,’ the tone, style and tempo shift continuously meaning no two tracks on this nine track album are the same or even very similar. Although a short song, sitting just over the two minute mark, ‘Heartbreak Girl’ manages to channel elements of Jesus and the Mary Chain’s ‘Psychocandy’. The same can be said for ‘Heading For The Waves’. These two mid-album tracks both come with a healthy dose of guitar reverb and soft drone backing.
The Lucid Dream even flirt with psychedelic pop with ‘In Your Eyes’, a bubblegum pop track that sits one more tambourine away from The Beach Boys. The chirpy guitar parts and even chirpier lyrical content make it stand out amongst more traditional nebulous tracks like ‘A Mind At Ease Is A Mind At Play’. It comes as no real shock to hear the likes of Steve Lamacq, Lauren Laverne, NME, Clash and Rock Sound singing their praises; the mind expanding and experimental nature of psychedelic rock mean their sound will never be prosaic or boring.
‘Songs of Lies and Deceit’ was released 5th August on Hoy Are You Recordings. You can see Mark Emmerson, Wayne Jefferson, Mike Denton and Luke Anderson do their psych-rock thing on the following dates:
August 16th: Glasgow 13th Note
September 14th: Hebden Bridge Trades Club
September 28th: Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia @ Camp and Furnace
October 3rd: Leeds Brudenell Social Club (w/ The Holydrug Couple)
Amy Bryant
@AmyeBryant
