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Hazel Wilde and Adam Sykes handle vocal duties, the latter's deep Geordie burr complementing Wilde's feathery, plaintive tones. The two combine wonderfully on If I've Been Unkind, against a tapestry of swooning strings, guitar, glockenspiel and synth of the kind that forms the backdrop to most of the songs here. "I sailed the seas; you were never even there" they intone - a line that sums up the direct lyrical approach and preoccupation with the elements felt throughout the record.
Ships in the Rain is one of the highlights here, Wilde taking on the voice of a doomed sailor over a spectral wall of backing vocals; equally effective is ode to friendship I Love You, Sleepyhead, subtle for its first few minutes before mournful strokes of Sarah Kemp's violin haul it into a rousing finale. Opening song Lungs Quicken furnishes Lanterns' sound with skittering beats and an insistent, circular glockenspiel shape, while A Kingdom ups the tempo considerably - a sweet, graceful pop song where the violin dances nimbly around interweaving guitar lines. Not to slight the record too much - for it is genuinely gorgeous and played with admirable conviction - but a few more steps in this direction might have given it a welcome jolt, leavening the generally sorrowful tone a little.
Yet that sadness is inseparable from the band's aesthetic, and going on this and its two preceding EPs (where many of these songs originated), they're only going to get better at fashioning it into delicate yet sometimes muscular music. Gracious Tide, Take Me Home is a luminous, lilting, lovely debut album, and a perfect mood piece as the nights begin to draw in.
--James Skinner
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
The two vocal parts just counterpart each other well and leave you loving a different track each time you listen. The only real departure from the airy and beautiful approach is A Kingdom which sounds a little like Arcade Fire and still works. Although if you want to compare it to anyone then Sigur Ros might be a decent bet. The crackles and background noises here add to the feel of the album and the atmospherics.
Overall this is going to be album of the year contender. It grows on each listen and it has the kind of beauty and heartfelt honesty that's been lacking in some offerings this year. This deserves to be heard.
The arrangement is everything in these songs and whilst they might possibly just about stand up if strummed on an acoustic guitar because of the loveliness of Wilde's voice, the songwriting itself does not seem substantial but is wonderfully augmented by reverb-drenched piano, keyboards and guitar borrowed straight from Disintegration era Cure (especially on "If I've Been Unkind"). The combined effect of these elements is wonderful and dreamlike with an intimacy that draws the listener close and makes the album seem to stop time as it drifts by. If there is a slight (very slight) criticism of the album it could be that it suffers from the old Cocteau Twins curse of being a little too sugar-sweet : this listener at least longed for a little edge that never materialised.
Finally, it's worth noting that this is effectively a series of home recordings. The album was recorded in the homes of band members but music technology in 2011 is such that the listener would never guess that it wasn't a full studio effort.
Great stuff, highly recommended for fans of the bands mentioned above and perhaps for followers of Laura Gibson, Musee Mechanique, Cowboy Junkies and Low.
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