Versions of Us

by Lanterns on the Lake

Overview

On Versions of Us, their follow-up to the Mercury Prize-nominated Spook the Herd (2020), Lanterns on the Lake remain loyal to textured, ringing atmospheres and a melancholic melodic sensibility while making a couple of course adjustments. First off, despite the album's material having been drawn up in the early 2020s, its lyrics are the band's most hopeful and empowering yet, in large part due to leader Hazel Wilde becoming a first-time mother. Secondly, and perhaps more seamlessly, Radiohead's Phil Selway not only took over on drums but helped produce Versions of Us, the outfit's fifth career full-length. (Founding drummer Ol Ketteringham parted ways with the band after starting work on the album, prompting the group to revert to demos for a fresh start with Selway.) The set list opens with "The Likes of Us," an early indicator of the forward-looking tone of much of the record, as it catalogs decaying conditions with a determination to persevere ("I won't let this spark die in me"). The layered piano, strings, and eerie effects that underscore defiant vocals in the sparser opening seconds ("And all those cynics and nihilists/Couldn't stop me from feeling this") are soon joined by Selway's typically off-center, propulsive rhythms on the way to additional layers and a fuzzy, triumphant chorus ("You say 'luck wouldn't grace the likes of us'/But I wouldn't be so sure"). Palette-wise, Versions of Us avoids uniformity without relinquishing ambience by playing with '80s keyboard timbres, among more distorted sounds, on the noir-tinged "Vatican," and by turning up the noise on the driving "String Theory," whose shimmering synths overlay intertwined, echoing guitar lines. Relatively more spacious tracks, like the yearning, social-media-afflicted "Rich Girls" ("I wish I could fake it like those rich girls do"), are also in play, offering variety as well as their fair share of guitar squalls. Taken together, the album is an engaging and rousing affair with more than enough down-to-earth awareness and poignancy to keep it grounded. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	06/02/2023
Label:	Bella Union
UPC:	5400863120719
Rank:	73082

Tracks

1. The Likes of Us
2. Real Life
3. Vatican
4. String Theory
5. Thumb of War
6. The Saboteur
7. Locust
8. Rich Girls
9. Last Transmission

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lanterns on the Lake   Primary Artist
Phil Selway   Drums,Percussion
Nick Moorbath   Organ (Hammond)
Angela Chan   Strings,Synthesizer
Hazel Wilde   Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Wurlitzer,Fender Rhodes
Paul Gregory   Guitar,Synthesizer
Bob Allan   Bass
Oscar Tabor   Violin

Technical Credits

Greg Calbi   Mastering
Steve Fallone   Mastering
Nick Moorbath   Engineer
Mark Broughton   Engineer
Paul Gregory   Mixing,Producer,Programming
Luke Jarvis   Design
Joss Worthington   Engineer
Wolfgang Grinschgl   Artwork