I’m pretty ignorant about English band Lanterns On The Lake, even though they have made 5 albums, one of them Mercury Prize nominated.
An acquaintance of mine went to see them play live recently, which is why I decided to have a listen. Formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2007, they have been compared to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Low. Radiohead’s Phil Selway joined the group to provide drums and percussion on their 2023 album, Versions of Us.
Youtube backup link
I fucking love Lanterns on The Lake. Been kind of obsessed with them ever since I heard a demo track of theirs on an indie music podcast years before they even had a proper album out. I’m very jealous of your friend getting to see them live.
Beings - which this track is from - is probably their best album, although picking the best LotL album is largely an exercise in madness. I personally have a deep love for Until The Colours Run. The track “Another Tale From Another English Town” basically lives in my brain permanently.
I will have to listen to more. What podcast was it?
Defunct now. It was by Warren Ellis.
The demo track is worth hunting down though if you can find it elsewhere. It’s called This Year. Very good song.
That’s the one.
Funny story: Lanterns on The Lake got a pretty meaningful exposure bump from being featured on the soundtrack to Life is Strange, specifically in the prequel set in 2010. In the scene the characters actually listen to Through The Cellar Door together, while fantasizing about running away from the shitty nowhere town they live in.
This annoys me for two very stupid reasons; Through The Cellar Door didn’t come out until 2015, so the characters listening to it is an anachronism. But they could have been listening to This Year, which was around in 2010, and is literally about fantasizing about getting out of the shitty nowhere town you live in.
I’m well aware that giving a shit about any of this makes me a massive nerd.
