The Lucid Dream release their self-titled sophomore album on 30 March
Album release: "The Lucid Dream" (self-titled)
Release date: 30 March 2015
Label: Holy are You? Recordings (CD/digital) and The Great Pop Supplement (coloured vinyl)
Listen: on Bandcamp
The Lucid Dream’s 2nd album follows on from 2 hugely successful singles taken from the long player, ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘Unchained’, both released in 2014. Between them the singles gained support from BBC Radio 1, 2 plus major support from BBC 6 Music (Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley (including 2 sessions), Steve Lamacq, 6 Music Recommends, Tom Robinson and Gideon Coe). ‘Moonstruck’ earned the accolade of the fastest sell-out in Too Pure Singles Club history, selling out a month in advance of release, with both singles coinciding with sold-out UK dates.
Formed in Carlisle, Cumbria, in 2008, throughout 2010-2013 followed a string of sold-out 7”s, an EP and the debut album, ‘Songs Of Lies and Deceit’. These releases coincided with support slots/tours with Death In Vegas, Clinic, Spectrum, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Magic Band, The Aliens and Dead Skeletons, to name a few. Always a band with the ability to combine melody with experimentation and noise, it came as no surprise that earlier releases gained plaudits across the board.
From a live perspective, The Lucid Dream have completed 4 European tours, and appeared at festivals such as The Big Chill, Kendal Calling, and notably being the only act to be asked to perform at all 3 events held for the Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia. They were also asked to perform at Jodrell Bank Live, to an audience of 5,000.
The debut long player ‘Songs Of Lies and Deceit’ was released in August 2013 to critical acclaim from Uncut, Clash, Q, Rocksound, Classic Rock Magazine, and leading French print mag Les Inrocks. Reviews heaped praise on the bands ability to make a sonically challenging album, whilst maintaining an ear for a tune throughout.
New album ‘The Lucid Dream’ demonstrates the band covering new areas, as always is the ethos of band. ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Cold Killer’ channel the influence of German geniuses Can and Neu!, through to the free-form jazz/noise freak-out that is ‘Darkest Day’/’Head Musik’. The success of ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘Unchained’ has already shown the ability to have appeal across the board, whilst ‘Unchained Dub’ (already a live favourite) expresses the love of King Tubby/Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, already noted by fans and critics alike that The Lucid Dream are the only band of their ilk touching across so many areas. ‘Morning Breeze’, throughout its 7 minutes displays feedback experiments in the vein of Sonic Youth, through to the spaced-out bliss demonstrated by Verve. The album closes with ‘You + I’, a nod to early 60s pop, meets Mazzy Star, meets Spiritualized circa ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’.
Reaction
- ‘A tremolo powered, Sonic Youth submarine voyage to Joe Meeks fabulous undersea kingdom’ - The Quietus
- 'Stirring, epic material designed to expand minds and shatter the consciousness' - Clash
- 'One beautiful, half-remembered hallucination' - Q
- ‘A sea of Mary Chain distortion’ - Uncut
- “They revel in extracting every last tone from their combined wall of sound” - Classic Rock
- “Tinnitus-tempting jangling guitars smothered in delicious reverb… it’s amongst the best psychedelic rock trips of 2013.” - The Line of Best Fit
- “Skittish drums and gently psychedelic keys” - Rock Sound
- “The guitars buzz, swirl and shimmer amidst expansive soundscapes” - Shindig!
- Radio support from Huw Stephens, Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley, Steve Lamacq, Gideon Coe and more
Tour dates
To coincide with the album release The Lucid Dream will play the following UK headline shows, followed immediately by a European headline tour:
- Saturday 7th February: Wrexham Un Deg Un
- Thursday 12th February: Bristol The Mothers Ruin
- Friday 13th February: Liverpool The Magnet
- Saturday 14th February: Manchester The Roadhouse
- Friday 20th February: Newcastle The Cluny 2
- Saturday 21st February: Carlisle The Brickyard
- Tuesday 24th February: London Birthdays