New single from Lull – “Cicada/Rainer”

This North London based-band was formed in early 2014 by Jon, Toby, Filipe and Simon. Their press compares them to Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. But they are very much their own. February 29th sees the release of single “Cicada/Rainer” on Plastic Fish.

Cicada starts off with the front man’s voice, close, so close. Jon has developed as a singer, and there is a clarity there that lets us appreciate bits of odd intrigue like “I can’t hear in a straight line” along with a concentration that recalls early Radiohead. The verse continues until a lead up to the non-existent chorus, announced by an strange childlike piano part, underlying their stretch for complementarity. The vocal harmony removes any need for analysis, pulling everyone back in. Once the guitars get thicker – well balanced by the drums which break up the wave of sound into bitesize pieces, building with that dimensional intensity – the feeling of going somewhere envelopes until you’re lost in a sea of sound. It’s more polished than before but grips on with velvet gloves to the oceanic sound that Lull seem to be only improving upon. They’ve got an idea here, a good one, and no matter how much it may remind of the high points of the shoegaze scene of the past, Lull emanate the excitement of the new.

Rainer comes out harder, drums and guitar riff, before dissolving suddenly into arpeggios and background silence. The vocal is soft, but when the bass and drums return, it moves along with them, a ribbon of coloured silk along a dark highway. The chorus is all the moments of the 90s, vanquished, remembered, and dissolved into a neat absinthe flood of heat. There’s levels here, a multi-dimensional construction, every part something to explore. If this is the direction Lull are headed in, then there is a fine sea of pleasure to anticipate. They might have to invent a new word, because their music goes beyond shoegaze.

by Alice Severin