Midlands based Lyon Tide have just chucked a hand grenade into the reckoning for best album of the year with their sophomore album Life Pop Bang.
The follow up to their debut – shoegazey, dream pop debut Beginnings of Ends the Brummie trio have released an album that is as far away from that rather bloody nifty debut as possible. Think about the jump The Boo Radleys did when they dropped Giant Steps or Radiohead when they blew everyone away with The Bends. Life Pop Bang should be placed in the same category.
This is no indie landfill filler, no parka monkey run of the mill Artic Oasis album. This is a big and bold and beautiful album that is sure to turn heads and ears their way if there is any justice in this new music scene and beyond. It is BRAVE with a capital BRAVE in bold.
The seeds of this album were set I guess when the band released a series of remixes from the aforementioned debut – hard dance/trance type remixes of their singles Blind, Closure and Science. It pointed to a new direction that many Indie groups fear to tread and many fail to do successfully – the expansive electronic based soundscapes and unplugging of the guitars and turning up the bass.
So much so the question I ask is what new band do you know that would abandon their own vocals and hand over to the wonderful to be fair vocals of Julia Faulks for the single Silent Words? And then follow that up with a dancefloor banger of Chemical Burn that owes much more then half a title with the Big Beat Massives that are The Chemical Brothers?
Luckily for us both of these songs are included on the album and these are not the only surprises.
After Chemical Burn kicks off the album, the groove continues with Chewing Gum which just makes you shout YES – its a brilliant Wonky song that owes a lot to Mansun who broke free of their Parka Monkey/Britpop stereotype to enchant us with their sonically expansive sound.
Bitter Sweet Envy has a Robbie Kreiger Soft Parade guitar sound and is a 100% belting pop tune with a touch of Ska – well they are a Midlands band.
As mentioned Silent Words pops up which is a piano based ballad sung by Julia – it’s a wonderful song that bands like Embrace can only dream of writing (I do like Embrace BTW).
Change follows and it’s a complete change of tract again (sic) – it’s basically a South American type groove that had me almost shouting Tequila at the breakdown. At this stage its by far my favourite song from the album. The piano solo is awesome.
The album is so good and exciting that you can’t wait to hear what’s next and it doesn’t disappoint – you get more electronic type sounds with brilliant layered sounds and vocals. The title track is mesmerically brilliant which bursts into life and has an almost Lightning Seeds type vibe about it – its all good.
As I said at the start – this album really has thrown a grenade into what’s been a great year for new music. It totally took me by surprise, similar to what Hardwick Circus did last year with their outstanding debut.
So be be brave, hang up your Parka for a moment and listen to something to treat you ears and give you some positive vibes in this very unusual of unusual years.
Life Pop Bang is available on normal streaming sites – but please just buy it here:
https://lyontide.bandcamp.com/album/life-pop-bang
Please let me know what you think.
PNL
Michael
The Rebirth Of Cool 