Elysian indeed...
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| Lakes - "Elysian Skies" Label: Big Scary Monsters |
For a change, I enjoy a band getting cleaner...
Formed in 2017, LAKES quickly became the british mainforce when it comes to Midwest-Emo and Indie-tinged Emo. Over the course of four years they released two full lengths, two EPs, two Remix-EPs and various single tracks. How the hell are they able to record this fast? Is it their man-/girlpower?!
Now, two years after their last album "Start Again", here's their next one: "Elysian Skies". And dang, they evolved in an awesome fashion since their last record. Not that "Start Again" was a bad record, but with "Elysian Skies" LAKES reached another level. The songs are more re-defined and polished and to the point. They're also more hook-laden and ear-friendly. And despite the fact that they nearly touch shallow waters from time to time, I really dig this evolution. Maybe it's my ever-growing tolerance when it comes to all kinds of music or the fact that I love melodic, catchy albums like this even more as I get older. It doesn't matter anyway, cause the quality is pretty high from start to finish and you can't argue about that. This "new" attitude also reflected on the production as it's pretty clean and well-rounded throughout.
If you're into more gruff kinds of Emo or still caught in your 90s-Midwest-Emo-fantasies, then, maybe you need to open up a bit for LAKES' sentiment. It's basically somewhere between Midwest-/Indie-Emo and pure (quality) Pop music. In another -much better- universe they'd be playing those songs on the radio, no doubt! How they've put together six different minds to create something this smooth, harmonic and well-oiled really is something special. Pointing out only one aspect of their sound, I'd like to speak about the vocals. I always liked the male-female-dynamics, it was something unique to their style. But with "Elysian Skies" they pretty much perfected it. The balance between the two voices is balanced and the arrangement of the vocal harmonies ("TLC" e.g.) is beautiful as fuck.
As much as I'm enjoying these catchy tunes I got to add, that enough of the tracks are still layered and complex. Take "Chablis" as a burning example, with its moody feeling, the nice vocal and instrumental progressions and the smooth ending. Or "Cut and Run" that starts sugar sweet but gets more twisted as it gets longer. LAKES don't care about borders when it comes to Emo, Rock, Pop or Indie, they just do what they do best: They write songs that grab your attention fast, slowly crawl into your subconscious mind and are here to stay for a probable long long time.
If you love cute, engaging melodies and catchy hooks in a profound and down-to-earth setting, you'd be an idiot for sleeping on this record.
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