LIE IN LIGHT

I waited a while to give this Cloudland Canyon, 2008, "Lie in Light" a good listening due to the fact that I was quiet mesmerized by their later, 2012 EP "Aureliua".

Well, from these ashes they rose....

Lie in Light / track by track >

"Krautwerk" , its first track blends , as it title implies, Krautrock, with Roxy Music's made up "Strand" and bits of synth pop. Although it obviously was intended to be high spirited, things get tangled up along the way and "the fun" seems quiet artificial. 2 stars.

"White Woman" , track 2, also holds a retro 60's fashion, involving high pitched wind instrument like sounds and noise while a praying like voice throws some Hippie like lyrics. Much in tune with the USA's Flower Children's West Coast vibe in those days. 2.5 stars.

"You and I", third track, is far better than its elder siblings and by far. A bit of psychedelics mixed with Progressive Electronics among an under recorded voice which follows the synth/pop rhythm to then disappear to leave a droning/noisy environment as its epilogue. 3.5 stars.

"Scheise Schatzi, Auf Wiedersehen", the 4th track, explores those instrumental, cacophonous, high pitched noises in between some industrial, sweeping and triggering synth's flashes. Experimental and quiet successful in its results. 3 stars.

"Herme", track 5, continues this instrumental experimental ideas in a nice blend between noises, the 60's hippie styling in voice, rhythm and guitar, which actually ended up founding the Krautrock sound, but doing so without the USA's blues colors which were an integral part of that style, which is quiet fine. 3.5 stars.

"Lie in Light", a noisy dronescape with a high dosage of quirky and twisty synth noises which have as a background a kind of spiritual and massive melody line with some unintelligible choruses yet subtly funny and irreverent, as early good Kratrock was. 4 stars.

"Mothlight" the final track, plays in a more song like tradition. Wah Wah guitar, a super dense and noisy atmosphere, chanted riffs and an obscure constant electric guitar soloing. Again the cross between the 60's styled underground rock and the contemporary whirling sounds construct the piece. The melody line is just average but true to its nature. 3 stars

All in all, I would recommend it to the dense Rock crowd or as they are now known as Stoners and the Krautrock/Psychedelic listeners who enjoy up to these days, the now highly fashionable then underground, 60's music unwritten protocols.

***3 PA stars flat.