This was a surprise. I'd previously had the honour of sharing a stage with Steve Whittle (frontman of LakeView) in an incarnation of Heavy Fluid Addicts, and have long been an admirer of his sometimes screeching, sometimes melodious guitarwork. I'd been a big fan of Modus, and really enjoyed the garage punk of his post-HFA band, The Cities (lack of links for these and the former due to Steve being in bands that are effectively unGoogleable) and was expecting this band, combining members of both of these as well as hardcore high-fliers Elias Last Day, to be something loud.
Not that it isn't at times, but this is far, far more subtle than I imagined. Lots of arpeggios, basslines that really lead the song, and very driving drumbeats that lead into very, very tuneful slower sections.
Song 1 is called 'Flags'. I first listened to this when walking from Hi-Q on Blackpool Road to Haslam Park, and now on my sofa with a beer, but what it really wants is to be played when driving on a really good road. I recommend taking the A59 from Preston to Skipton, for example.
Song 2 is called 'Habit'. A much slower affair, and one that references driving around Lane Ends in Preston. This made me smile as I was walking past the Lane Ends pub as I heard this (it takes a while to fit two tyres if you want it doing cheap). Lots of lovely reverb on the guitar, which is almost Pink Floydy at times, and I think I can hear that Echo Park guitar pedal that was a feature of our time in HFA.
I'm going to stop numbering them now. 'Live Wires' is different. It's a funkier track. The bass steals it for me, again. Credit must be given to whoever recorded this - the separation of bottom and top ends is truly brilliant - it makes for a snappy listen, as opposed to a middley mess.
'Right On, Yeah!' is a cool name for a song, and this is the first really noisy one. The melodies are this time backed up by a frankly dirty rhythm guitar. All this stops for yet another fantastic bassline. Make no mistake - this is definitely 'last song' stuff. Would really benefit from being played at neighbour bothering volume.
Songs 5-7 pick up where 4 left off. 'A Day Out' has a nastier, distorted bass riff that underpins a more warped tune than previous. I'm guessing these were recorded at different points - there seems to have been some kind of consensus that the less straightforward stuff is the way to go.
'Trains' has some big drums. Very big drums. However, the main feature of this is that Steve is really finding his vocal feet. The Cities were a very loud band, and it was easy to shout along. Here, singing is the order of the day and there's a far greater sense of coherence and cohesion between music and lyrics.
The last song is 'Breaking Glass'. It's more of a grower than previous songs. It changes several times, and returns to the driving imagery of 'Habit'. Some soaring guitarwork towards the end, and then it stops. Almost abruptly.
So, LakeView. A rock band, certainly, but what sort of rock band? A good one, one that is hard to categorise, and one that's produced seven songs (there may be more, I just hoiked these off bandcamp) that are simultaneously diverse and accessible.
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