By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring LAKE’s undeniably shiny and heartening indie pop record BUCOLIC GONE and some fear’s cripplingly human slowcore self-titled debut!
LAKE – BUCOLIC GONE
Genre: Indie Rock, Sunshine Pop, Adult Contemporary
Favorite Tracks: “Blue Horizon,” “Wonderful Sunshine,” “Love is Deeper”
When I was small, my grandma would build a nest for me every afternoon. She would pull out fluffy pillows and blankets and unfurl them on the carpet in front of the chiffarobe in her living room, then wrap me in a quilt like it was her wings. She would spin a yarn about Bambi and his friends meeting the Ninja Turtles to appease my request for a story, but it was the soothing sounds of her singing adult contemporary that she heard on the local soft rock station, KEZK, that stuck in my head. She would sing Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again” until she ran out of lyrics and switched to humming the tune until my eyes shut from the weight of warmth and comfort.
Listening to LAKE has always brought me a similar warmth and comfort. Since hearing their brilliant 2009 album LET’S BUILD A ROOF, the trio of Ashley Eriksson, Eli Moore, and Andrew Dorsett have yet to produce a record that wasn’t infinitely charming. If you’ve ever binged episodes of ADVENTURE TIME, you may recognize the group’s gentle tones from their whimsical song “Christmas Island,” which plays over the credits. It’s a mellow and pleasing track reminiscent of the kid-friendly pop of The Free Design. Since then, LAKE has continued developing a sound that harkens back to a certain style that originated in the ’60s, perfected in the ‘70s, and that they’ve rounded out with modern twists on pop sensibilities.
BUCOLIC GONE, the prolific group’s tenth album and first for Don Giovanni BUCOLIC GONE, the prolific group’s 10th album and first for Don Giovanni Records, is a record of lush indie pop that is so pleasant everyone can agree on it. LAKE is in love with songwriters of the past, storytellers writing simpler, laid-back melodies. But the beauty is in the details. Songs like “Love is Deeper” and “Blue Horizon” tell a deeper story through lush production, giving each song its own atmosphere through echos, buzzes, and synthy vibrations. “Wonderful Sunlight” is a summery and shimmery tune that captures the mellow sweetness of adult contemporary coming through the warm buzz of the radio. Even their saddest songs will make you swoon, replacing your melancholy with heartfelt sweetness. Life is heavy, and many things aren’t right in the world. We spend our days trying to act like everything is okay, but we genuinely need a band like LAKE for warmth and comfort; let them be the blanket nest you rest your weary head on. Listen on Bandcamp. [Jack Probst]
some fear – S/T
Genre: Slowcore
Favorite Tracks: “Let It Go,” “Game,” “The Road”
You’d be mistaken for thinking that the songs on some fear’s self-titled debut are longer than they are. The way the lead and rhythm guitars hypnotically fuse together often sounds endless—the mesmerizing swirl of “Skin I Can’t Peel,” the clangy metallic gallop of “Let It Go,” the compounding fuzz of “Game,” each two-to-three minute tracks that stretch to infinity. The Oklahoma City band push the boundaries of slowcore to its lo-fi limits, moving from passages built around quiet simplicity and intense separation to those focusing on loud and heartbreaking noise, constantly holding up a mirror to our own isolation while wondering what our futures will look like.
The title track for both the album and the band themselves fittingly finds the sonic median to these dynamics, temptingly edging towards a beautiful explosion while tensely pushing us through our collective humanity, repeating “I hope we make it this time.” some fear are at their best when the pulsing guitars and drums border on being blown out, where that humanity is revealed to be veiled, fragile, and almost broken—the dark, menacing, emotional core of this sound is on full display on the overwhelming “The Road,” where vocalist Bran Palesano defeatedly howls, “Take it all away and shove it in my face.” The band’s goal is to overwhelm you both with sound and with emotion. They close SOME FEAR with “The Faucet Does All The Crying,” a singular, plodding finale that quietly concludes that “Someday I’ll find a place that I can run from / A place that I won’t feel so lonesome.” I was overwhelmed. some fear are immediately a band worth keeping tabs on. You can snag a copy of their debut over on Bandcamp. [CJ Simonson]
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