Lanterns On The Lake headlined the Friday night of Halifax's Town Festival in the resplendent setting of the Minster. Whilst vision was difficult from the pews, Lanterns On The Lake delivered a set of songs taken mostly from their last two albums Spook The Herd and Versions Of Us that felt even more imperious and overwhelming in the hallowed settings. Support came from Philip Selway with a solo set before taking his place behind one of the headliner's two drum kits.
Whilst his bandmates in Radiohead's side projects have veered into the experimental, Philip Selway's solo work has been much more traditional in form and he takes us on a journey through his output since 2010 across albums and soundtracks, performing solo either on piano or guitar. Starting with The Heart Of It All and finishing with There Will Be Better Days, both taken from his most recent 2023 album Strange Dance, his songwriting craft is laid bare in the atmospheric soundings and with an audience that sits and listens and respects and appreciates the quality of the songs. He tells us that his drum kit is likely to be jealous as this is the first time he's ever performed with it on stage and him not playing it. What strikes us most though is the simple emotional clarity of these songs, stripped down and laid bare with just one instrument and a voice that's warm and comforting. It's a world away from his day job, but it's a perfect accompaniment to what follows.
In a just and fair world the critical acclaim that follows Lanterns On The Lake around would be replicated by commercial acclaim. They've been at this game for well over a decade now, developing their sound, refining it into some of the most striking beautiful music that's been released in that time. Tonight's set takes heavily from their last two albums Spook The Herd and Versions Of Us where their visions of the power of their music became reality. The imposing setting of the Minster seems to heighten the gravitas and the emotional tension that joins these songs together, whether it be the dual drum approach they've taken to this touring phase, Angela Chan's strings, Paul Gregory coaxing un-guitar sounding sounds out of his six strings, Bob Allan's bass. They all fuse together with Hazel Wilde interchanging between guitar and piano to create a beautifully evocative soundscape that forms the base of the seventeen songs they perform tonight. All of this is done without overwhelming Hazel's revelatory lyrics delivered with a voice that possesses that rare ability to take you inside the stories and emotions that the words are telling.
We can't see very much despite only being twelve rows back, but we don't need to. You could close your eyes and just let this music envelop you such is the gorgeous wonder of it and the exceptional job the sound team have done in a church environment that's notoriously difficult for live sound. The slow build of the likes of When It All Comes True, Every Atom and a rare outing of Beings' The Crawl well up the emotions, the tenderness of Ships In The Rain sets the hairs of the neck on end, whilst the harmonies and melodies of the glorious The Saboteur, Thumb Of War and Vatican melt the heart. The latter almost gets missed as they skip past it on the setlist before coming back to it. Versions Of Us's two lead singles - The Likes Of Us and Real Life - open the set and sit perfectly there, the Lanterns On The Lake live experience isn't about one or two songs, but the whole and as they finish the main set on the final tracks of the last two albums A Fitting Ending and Last Transmission, they take the shackles off a little without veering off track.
The audience listen intently throughout, there's minimal chatter even in the pauses between songs as Hazel changes instruments or Paul tunes up. There's little between song chat, not that it's needed, because the songs tell their own stories. Their modesty, the need to let go and immerse yourself in the music rather than it be background to your life to appreciate the depth of it might be barriers to them reaching a wider audience, but Lanterns On The Lake are truly one of the most exceptional bands around right now.
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