the lucid dream: compulsion songs

Compulsion Songs is the third album from Carlisle's The Lucid Dream. After their critically acclaim of their self-titled second album, The Lucid Dream venture into new pastures again. On Compulsion Songs, pulling away from the pack is the order of the day, and the ideas on show here reaffirm the many claims that The Lucid Dream are one of the most important, diverse and exciting bands in the UK at present. Compulsion Songs is a demonstration of the band's skill in binding the sounds of their broadening musical palette through their unifying song craft. Recorded at Whitewood Studios, Liverpool, with Rob Whiteley, the album is produced alongside long-time collaborator Ross Halden (Ghost Town Studios, Leeds). Recent single "Bad Texan" sees the band move into dancefloor meets krautrock territory. The krautrock/kosmiche groove is also present alongside new wave in the two-part opus "Nadir"/"Epitaph". "21st Century" is quite appropriately the nearest the band get to a protest song, a two-minute white noise/garage/rockabilly blast, inspired by a heavy dose of Beastie Boys listening. Elsewhere, the bustling of "The Emptiest Place" is Morricone meets '60s L.A, "Stormy Waters" bows to the melodies of The Stone Roses/The Byrds, warping them with a sinister twist in the vein of Spiritualized. The album's showpiece however comes via the eight-minute space-dub of "I'm A Star In My Own Right", as the band hit a full on Kingston, Jamaica dub/groove, set as it is to contorting, reverb-fueled passages. Compulsion Songs follows 2015's critically acclaimed second album, which gained plaudits from Drowned In Sound (who named the album #7 UK album of the year), Uncut, Q, Clash, Louder Than War and The Skinny. "Mona Lisa", the opening track from the album, was also included in The Observer's "Critics Favourite Tracks Of 2015" playlist.