Post by JohanneSoulless on Apr 11, 2022 4:18:27 GMT
Lycia is a dark wave music project (Tempe, Arizona, the USA) formed in 1988 and notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in dark wave and ethereal wave styles. Lycia’s music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, ethereal keyboards, drum machine beats, whispered male vocals and vivid female voice. Over the band’s career they have also incorporated elements of post-punk, ambient, industrial, and electronic music.
Permanent members of the band are its founder, composer and vocalist Mike VanPortfleet and his wife Tara VanFlower who sings and plays in Lycia since 1994. David Galas and John Fair (also ex-Caterwaul, Paper Gods) are long-time recurrent members who occasionally work with the band till this day. Will Welch contributed to the development of Lycia in the early years of the band.
Their current discography consists of 10 studio albums, numerous EPs and reissues of older unreleased music. Some of their most critically acclaimed albums are 1995’s "The Burning Circle And Then Dust " and its 1996’s successor "Cold".
(In 2002 some songs from "Cold" were licensed for the drama movie “Lana’s Rain”; which seems to have met with a rather poor reception though.)
One of the latest releases is a cover of Tubeway Army’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”.
Mainly studio oriented, the band was also an active touring band from 1993 to 1998. Lycia also headlined the very first Convergence Festival held in Chicago in 1995.
For further reference, Lycia’s Discogs page lists all the necessary links and provides clear information about other projects the band members participated in. Here’s also a bunch of good interviews:
www.silbermedia.com/qrd/archives/65MVanPortfleet.html (there are links for other Lycia’s interviews at the end)
And their gorgeous looks
How I became a fan. It was a bit like my story with London After Midnight: I didn’t really get hooked at first, but then something happened and changed it (not a rare thing with me actually…). In all probability, I heard “The Burning Circle and Then Dust” in late 2000s. It sounded pleasant, but no more than that. I got some other Lycia's albums over time, but none of them really moved me until… until 2014? 2015? Or even 2016? I’m sure of the year no more than of the reason . I just felt like listening to them all of a sudden and wouldn’t be satisfied with just an album or two. Then I fell into the habit of listening to their discography once a year (ok, I listen to most of it on Youtube). Now I listen to Lycia any time I wish, but definitely more often than before, and I realize that the reason isn’t a current mood, but their music having become really close to me; or, to be exact, me having become close to it, ‘cause the music hasn’t changed, and I have (I can’t name the reasons though, maybe just getting older and starting to enjoy somewhat different things).
I’m kind of a “calm” fan, not in love with Mike VanPortfleet or needing Lycia's music at least once a month (that’s the longest period I can spontaneously spend without listening to my absolute favorite bands) - but I know that I can’t replace it with anything else when I do need it. Some songs and albums are more to my liking than others, although I perceive them as one long song in general. Usually I prefer their ambientish stuff over rockish one, but that depends. Lycia to me is all about atmosphere, style, and concept. Sometimes I think its looping structures and hypnotizing sounding resemble my way of creative pondering when I try to imagine nonexistent people and places in detail .
I should say, though, that I have some special admiration for Tara VanFlower’s singing. Her voice is light and bright, and when she sings a cappella, I feel she doesn’t need accompaniment at all. As far as I know, she never took singing lessons, so the only thing she relies on is her great natural talent. (Although I must admit that her solo music seems too repetitive to me. But some songs are fine.)
Besides, she’s my fellow writer, although I don’t think I’ll ever read her novels…