Album Review by EDF
It is amazing how a number of bands just seem to rehash sounds from the seventies and eighties. Lansing-Dreiden are no different. In fact, they sound uncannily similar to what Joy Division would have sounded like if Ian Curtis had lived long enough to release an album around 1983. Some of the songs are actually more melodic and comprehensible than Ian Curtis’ own output and kind of diminishes any mystery Lansing-Dreiden has but at least they can rely on a mesh-mash of sounds to keep some of the mystery.
The opening METAL ON A GUN is both funky and psychedelic which is not an easy thing to do. The driving THE ETERNAL LIE is a song that you would love to listen to while racing on the motorway, although the incompressible guitar solo is a break from the norm. If you haven’t been pulled over for speeding by now, the rough AN UNCUT DIAMOND and the relentless THE ADVANCING FLAGS will have you driving in sixth gear.
THE MISSING MESSAGE is LD at their Joy Division best, where marauding guitars slow the mood down and trashcan recorded vocals that would make Ian Curtis and Jim Morrison proud. If by this time you haven’t taking up smoking, the tranquil A SILENT AGREEMENT and AN EFFECT OF THE NIGHT will have you reaching for the Rizlers. LAID IN STONE comes across as a laid back Stone Roses while GLASS CORRIDOR is a bizarre mix of Tears For Fears meets Talking Heads. When I.C.U. and DESERT LIGHTS kick in, these Depeche Mode / New Order like tracks are evidence enough that Lansing-Dreiden are just about capable of anything.
The songs are not immediate but enjoyable which makes each listen more enjoyable than the last. It is as if they got a producer from San Francisco’s ‘summer of love’ era, mixed with a studio engineer from the Manchester new wave sound of the late 1970’s. It is unusual for a US band to capture the feel and spirit of the UK music scene, even if it does sound retro. This is no ordinary group either as they also dapple in the arts as well. Surely these guys cannot be from Miami? Their approach to music and the arts is frankly English.
