These three releases from alternative indie band Lucid Ending make for a short yet captivating rock listening session, and in fact – the more you listen, the better and better it gets. Here’s a quick run down of the project.
Youth In View presents a strong starting point. The song hits hard from the offset, surrounding you with high energy drums and riffs, with a passionate, powerful and gritty leading voice confidently driving the song’s melodies and ideas. Cascading guitar solos intertwine with characterful baselines alongside a creatively free yet ever relevantly expressive beat. Then you get the concept, the personal touch, and the poetry – the simple and the provocative, all combined within a fairly anthemic, hugely enjoyable rock song. It quite quickly becomes clear that this is the absolute high standard to be expected from Lucid Ending, and if anything unfavorable were to be said – it would be that three songs is simply not enough.
Erika is a song based loosely on the film La Pianiste. To bear this in mind as you witness the unfolding story line actually adds significantly to the scene laid out for you. The detail within the song alone is more than enough to gather a clear picture of the character and events at hand, to combine the two art forms though, in your mind, makes for an all the more rewarding experience.
This song has a deeply emotional feel to it, the guitar parts are beautifully incorporated, there seems to be a compelling balance achieved between the heavy side of rock and the gentler, softer side of songwriting and performance. This makes the track feel very genuine, very real. The music surrounds and captivates you like any anthem should, the energy is that of a rock classic, and the leading vocalist again offers up the perfect guide for listeners to follow along – meanwhile getting lost entirely in the multi-layered weight and beauty of the instrumentation.
Creatures Of Habit is perhaps the most iconic of this mini collection. The band have utilised contrast within their structuring and arrangement here to a great extent, and it pays off. The song soaks you in the now familiar poetry and imagery that is their style, but it also gives you something of a grunge or classic hard rock moment of power – Pearl Jam came to mind briefly, as did Nirvana. This story telling is the sort that feels partly unknown, other worldly, and partly impossibly personal and relative to yourself as you listen. It’s accessible and distant all at once, and meanwhile – the melody, which consists for the most part of just three or four notes, is one that cleverly satisfies in exactly the way that rock fans would hope for.
It’s worth mentioning that all of this takes place without anything fake or overbearingly flashy. The music feels heavy – it’s loud, you can (and should) listen to it at high volumes, but it also comes with a real sense of authenticity. The songs feel like they had to be written, from a need to express, a desire to create – as opposed to being those of a band whose members simply want to be in a band.
If you listen even just twice to these songs, Lucid Ending become a sure-fire contender for the rock playlist. The freshness gives you something new to embrace, the familiarity arouses a sense of nostalgia – both of which work beautifully together. The songwriting is great, natural yet powerful – colourful, yet very real – and the musicianship is incredibly tight and consistently impressive. As an EP or short collection the artistry and musical strength is fantastic. Lucid Ending are well worth tuning in for.
Find & follow Lucid Ending on Facebook & Soundcloud or visit their Website for more information.
