New music: Grave Lanterns

Lanterns dig a grave to die for…

Murky subterranean synth-pop quartet Grave Lanterns began more as a side-project than any conscious attempt to overthrow the music underworld but, pre-conceived or not, the awesome foursome’s ability to shake the earth with their highly infectious brand of ghost-rock is quickly becoming second-to-few if not none just yet. Comprised of members from Elastic Sleep (Chris Somers), The Altered Hours (Cathal MacGabhann), Une Pipe (Dan O’Connell) and The Great Balloon Race (Dan Walsh), the band’s recorded output is limited to a trio of demos uploaded to Soundcloud throughout the past couple of years. Although excellent in their own right (ethereal, reverb soaked drone-pop), the online material does not document the group’s helter-skelter evolution to date. My most recent encounter with the band certainly does.

Visceral and voracious, the four are a multi-headed roaring beast live and – something not always intertwined with music more alternatively inclined – bloody great fun. Superficially, there’s a distinct air of careless creative freedom that gusts from the stage as the Grave Lanterns typhoon begins to twist and spin, and the engulfing sense of enjoyment that washes over the crowd almost palpable. Yet the beats, melodies and structures are anything but slipshod, all driving forth in the same singular direction making Grave Lanterns a must see – especially in intimate spaces (the name is quite apt) – in the flesh. There is no new material on the way just yet and there isn’t even a live show listed as I go to post but, seeing as I have failed to dedicate a specific post to one of Cork’s leading lights to date (past mentions here), I felt a remedy to that particular ailment was required pronto.

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