NEWS
EVENTS
Unclassifiable Glasgow sex rockers sophomore album will do stuff to ya...
A thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters could type for a thousand years and would probably only just cover the influences you hear on Lylo's Post Era. A band as well read as an iTunes' music library, the Glaswegian quintet showcases a sound all their own.
Everything's Cool (aptly named intro track) lets you know early on how concordant the five are as a band; Iain's saxophone wailing off in the distance with Mitch's warbling vocals behind Justin and Jack's drum and bass, all pinned together by Niall's sonically dextrous synths.
Turn My Jacket continues the record with a buoyant unison, with a quintessential mournful break, showcasing Justin's tightrope taut drums and Jack's substantial bass lines. The boys master a kind of Hall and Oates back-and-forth but informed by John Coltrane's disregard and abandonment.
Lead singer Mitch Flynn's vocals cut and caress through the album like a world-weary choirboy's. His troubling Catholic lyricism wrapped up in his own iridescent howl and desperate splutter are best displayed on Submerge and You Have Your Father's Eyes plumbed deep within a knowledge of soul and a very personal poetry that serves as the band's sixth instrument.
It's easy to slag off bands today for incorporating the Kenny G style saxophone to try to add some 80's credibility, but the Olifant blasts on YHYFE more than prove that when done correctly, brass can be king in 2018.
Opening up the fifth track, It's Good To Know Your Man, are Niall's celestial synths that give much of the record it's unique sound. Jack's bass provides a comforting backbone to the dreamy sax and vocals that weave throughout.
The missing track from the Top Gun Soundtrack; Yeah Boy is probably the record's highlight, dipping in and out of Duran Duran, Japan, Bowie, Ferry, Kraftwerk and New Order, this track is the perfect example of the band's aural intimacy. It's so difficult to pick out an element of this song that stands out because of the togetherness of the whole thing.
What Three Dog Night wanted to do, One finishes Post Era with Mitch's haunting voice and Iain's fluid horn, intertwining over Mitch's sparse guitar work before the band sign off with a kaleidoscopic crescendo.
A pithy album at 7 tracks and 26 minutes, Lylo leaves the listener wanting more. Quite a bold move, but they've made a record in step with the Post Era, so it will be interesting to see what they can come up with in the future. Perhaps scrambling for their many influences is a sign that this is actually what original, unique and new music can sound like. An early musical highlight for 2018 and a contender for my favourite record of the year.
