Bella Union might just strike gold with Lanterns on the Lake, a sextet from Tyne and Wear whose key note, as the title of their debut album suggests, is plangency. Opening song Lungs Quicken crystallises their aesthetic: a rippling pulse of electronics ushers in a creamy violin and Hazel Wilde’s gossamer vocal; the mood is hushed, sensual, restrained – until halfway through, when volume and emotion surge. If I’ve Been Unkind adds waves of guitar to this template; The Places We Call Home has a stomping backbeat; Tricks is illuminated by twinkling glockenspiel. What doesn’t change is the sheen of bland tastefulness. This is undeniably beautiful music – but it’s also irritatingly obvious, drowning in syrupy violin, its plaintive melodies anchored in predictability. Paul Gregory’s crackling electronic interventions and homespun production job – listen out for the creaking floorboards in Keep on Trying – do much to roughen the edges, but not enough to give this perfect music real character.
Plus four track bonus CD in handmade sleeves. it features two exclusive tracks ‘the watch house and the daughter’ and ‘fathers song’, the high tide version of ‘not going back to the harbour’ and the Dustin O’Halloran remix of ‘ships in the rain’.
