Staff Reviews

Lanterns on the Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home

Review by David Edwards

For the most part, this is a tremendous, impressive and authentically pretty debut.»

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rough trade exclusive with a four track bonus cd in handmade sleeves. it features two exclusive tracks 'the watch house and the daughter' and 'fathers song', the high tide version of 'not going back to the harbour' and the dustin o'halloran remix of 'ships in the rain'. fuse the most fragile and graceful end of the folk music spectrum to the most luminous properties of cinemscope rock, and you have the stunning debut album from newcastle-based sextet lanterns on the lake. 'gracious tide, take me home' uses a smorgasbord of instruments (guitars, violin, mandolin, piano, synths, glockenspiels, kalimba) to paint a variety of beautiful vistas. from the ambient 'ships in the rain' to the galloping 'a kingdom', there's a compelling drama to lanterns on the lake. given the emotional heft and melodic riches on show, it's no surprise that lanterns on the lake found their way to bella union records. there's an undeniable vein of sadness through this music - 'ships in the rain' was prompted by the story of a local fisherman who went missing at sea, while 'a kingdom' was inspired by the book of letters sent home by ww2 soldiers - but there is just as much hope in tracks like 'lungs quicken' and 'keep on trying', where fear and insecurities are banished by self-belief. mirroring the sentiment of the album title, tracks like ' love you, sleepyhead' and 'places we call home' draw on the comfort and security of friendship and memory.
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