Dark Horses - Hail Lucid State

Their live CV and endorsement list is pretty astounding. Not only has the band’s brand of dark, moody psychedelia gained the praise of Nick Cave and Noel Gallagher, who personally invited them to join him at last year’s Teenage Cancer Trust benefit gig at the Royal Albert Hall, they have scurried the venues of Europe and Australia with the likes of The Dandy Warhols, Beck, Sigor Ros, Tame Impala, Kasabian and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. If that wasn’t enough, they contributed to last year’s Christmas album A Psych Christmas, which also included tracks from Iggy Pop, Dead Meadow, Black Angels and Clinic, and, outside of the band, lead singer Lisa Elle found time to lay guest vocals on Jon Hopkins’ Mercury Prize nominated Immunity. But, before this background prattle becomes too unbearable, how does the band’s latest offering Hail Lucid State compare to their critically acclaimed Black Music?

The band inhabit the area of space between psychedelia and punk; they take bits and pieces from both to create a rock amalgamation, with an added splash of theatrics that’s being widely explored by many of their contemporaries at the moment. Where their debut concerned itself chiefly with reverb and melting psych soundscapes, optimised in the album’s masterpiece “Radio”, Hail Lucid State bends itself towards a wider use of electronics, pop sensibility, new wave influences, post-rock hues and deeper accessibility, while keeping their psych groundings and rock backbone firmly intact. The icy stage presence and vocal style of Elle also remains a constant, her ethereal rasps pervading the entirety of the outfit’s material; stamping a trademark on their sound.

Album opener and first single “Live On Hunger” encapsulates the overriding sound of the record; it utilises post-rock guitar flutters, punk rhythms, electronic punctuations and pop hooks which come in the shape of Elle’s husks: “I’m alive/Still alive”. There is something, however, that just doesn’t hit home - a certain pizzazz or coherence is missing. “Desire” feels more at home - it takes the band’s penchant for psychedelia from Black Music and fills it with shimmering production, a full bodied sound and accessibility. “Transister” weighs on the side of punk and post-rock glistenings in equal measure with smatterings of electronica and permeating grandiosity which remains a constant throughout the LP’s 43 minute playtime. “Wake Up” takes swathes of inspiration from late 70s new wave, with its synth augmentation and bubbling bass lines, whilst “Western” crescendos in a lavish, orchestral dose of psych and post-rock.

Dark Horses expand on the psych outings of their debut; ensuring the continuation of their psych heritage, but dipping their toes in other pools of influence. The record is an easier listen than their previous effort - there are points where it doesn’t quite work, but the parts where it does are tremendous.