Lanterns on the Lake
Versions
of Us
(Bella Union)
There are many contradictions in my behavior and beliefs, but one I’ve only fully realized in recent years is how I seem to have an incredibly strong sense of survival, despite often having a desire to die. When I’ve been confronted with some pretty catastrophic health issues over the years, I fight like crazy! When things have been touch and go, I come out gasping for air like someone who’s been under water for an extreme length of time. Both doctors and nurses have commented on my will to live and my willingness to fight. It’s funny to me, because they don’t see how I react at some real minor inconveniences that can and often do completely shut me down. If I receive mail of any kind that involves forms, or when I am fumbling around too much with my hands, or wobbly on my feet, or am dropping everything I try to hold or pick up, I think to myself, how much I don’t want to keep on living. Every time I encounter debates involving denial of facts and all reason, my response is to shut down. I’d rather die than deal with that shit. All of these things have become large factors in my life these days, so I am worried that my fight – my will to survive is declining. This is why the newest Lanterns on the Lake album, Versions of Us, is so important.
Lanterns on the Lake have been a massive favorite of mine since their earliest self-released and packaged EPs, I regard their debut album, 2011’s Gracious Tide, Take Me Home, as one of the finest debuts of the 2000s, while their follow-up, 2013’s, Until the Colours Run, is an all-timer for me (2013 #1 pick - see here). That LPs first single, “Another Tale from Another English Town” is remarkable in its cinematic beauty and quiet, yet bitter protest.
There is a positivity that runs through Versions of Us that strikes like a kick to the ass to get in gear and live! We’re not talking about saccharine messages of hope, but a well-worn reaction earned in the face of serious darkness. It’s striking, and I’m here for it. I, for one, am tired of all of the negativity. I need to turn things around and build up that life affirming resiliency again.
This sense of positivity is
important, because singer Hazel Wilde
is reminding us that we can all collectively and individually learn from our
previous poor habits and assumptions and do better. “The Saboteur” spells this out in a very
straightforward way, in a very memorable chorus, which is heightened by Paul Gregory’s soaring guitar work:
“Gripped to the past til our fingers
bleed
Habit of a century
We’re going to turn this thing round like you wouldn’t believe.”
The first pre-LP single, “The Likes of Us,” opens the album with a plea for positivity acceptance. It’s like Wilde is working out her new strategy by accepting that she’s a “wreck,” but asking for all of us fellow down trodden folks to let her have this, “all of these cynics and nihilists couldn’t stop me from feeling this.”
The second single, “String Theory,” finds solace in the idea of a multiverse. The notion that there are an infinite number of us progressing through time pleases her, knowing that at least one of those versions is having a great time. It’s kind of funny, but there’s an urgency to this song that is incredibly infectious and hopeful, like witnessing an especially epic sunrise.
Lanterns on the Lake, with their swelling surges of sound, have always had the ability to create spine-tingling moments that tap into hidden and unspeakable emotions that make one’s face contort to hold back the flood. This album is no exception, and here we find them perhaps more accessible than ever before. The previously mentioned singles are upbeat, concise, and with a driving beat from Radiohead’s Philip Selway, songs like “String Theory,” sound crucial and exciting. Elsewhere, “Real Life” is as close to a catchy pop song that they’ve ever attempted, and it creates an especially spine tingling moment during the bridge, once Gregory’s guitar melds with Angela Chan’s searing violin. I honestly cannot get enough of it. “Rich Girls” is another stunner with its warm buzzing organ hum, low end bass, a stuttering beat, and the rousing chorus that absolutely soars, as Wilde clings to her goal of positivity, even if she has to fake it.
Hazel Wilde’s lyrics have always been excellent. Here they feel more conversational than ever before. Perhaps she’s writing these affirmations to herself, yet they come off more like an evolving conversation with an old friend. There’s a humor and humility (“And your guru tries to help / Keeps telling me to love myself / But he can’t stand me either”) here that is familiar and trusting.
This fifth album is already one of my favorites! Increasingly, with each album release Lanterns on the Lake unveil, there are stories about how the making of that new album almost didn’t happen, because of various issues. They have continuously lost members through the years, yet they keep on going and remaining remarkably vital. I am thankful that they remain steadfast and keep this amazing music coming. Whenever I hear someone say “there’s no good music anymore,” I think of artists like this, and laugh to myself about how ridiculous that notion is.
