Lanterns on the Lake - Beings

Even if Lanterns on the Lake hadn’t been making gradually more mature, sophisticated and quietly stirring indie rock records these past few years, the fact that they continue to fly under the radar would be a travesty for more than that. They seem, as a band, to be tapping into the national state of government-fuelled unrest whilst the genre, by and large, remains an inexplicably serene parallel universe. 2013’s ‘Until the Colours Run’ was a stormy and viscerally disaffected affair, matching the sweeping grandiosity of its soundscapes with incisive, passionate lyricism.

Perhaps in response to the fact that their last album - despite superb reviews - failed to significantly expand their fanbase, they actually sound just as pointed as their approach to their subject matter always has been on this third full-length, ‘Beings’. ‘Of Dust & Matter’ opens proceedings in eccentric fashion, off-kilter keys and shuffling drums taking turns to give way to hushed vocals, and both ‘Faultlines’ - which decries austerity whilst setting increasingly urgent piano work against a subtle wall of reverb - and the simmering ‘The Crawl’, where the drums rattle like heavy artillery, suggest that the Newcastle outfit are on the leanest and most focused form of their lives here.