Lycia’s The Burning Circle and Then Dust is in no way a cop out, in fact on your first listen you may just wash away those cynical thoughts about re-masters altogether.
Silber owe a debt of honour to Lycia, the goth dark-wave group from Arizona. In fact on the website they pretty much decree that their love of great music and the want to start a record label is indebted to the band. And who can blame them?
Lycia has the brooding energy and romantic swoon of a three hundred year old vampire and while sadly departed in 1999, band member’s solo work (particularly founders Tara VanFlower and Mike VanPortfleet) continue in the post punk experimental vein that Lycia began. With this in mind it’s no wonder Silber are excited to re-release their 1995 album.
The Burning Circle and Then Dust is truly an album that has to be listened to from start to finish, its whimsical guitars and haunting atmospheric vocals combined with an early art rock use of synths craft a wave of songs that flow effortlessly and captivate you in doing so.
“A Presence in the Woods” begins the immersion of the listener with a collaboration of voice and instrument to produce an abyss of textures that you’ll be tenderly charmed into. A few tracks later “Wandering Soul” dances elegantly along, bringing subtle folk elements into the dark wave mix, albeit tormented variations of folk, more akin to apocalyptic subgenres then what many would recognise as falling within the pure field itself.
It’s hard to find a stand out track on such a large scale album, with many great songs gently grabbing your undivided attention each and every time, but “On the Horizon” is arguably a paramount point due to is brilliantly lucid guitar riff that sways from early dream pop sounds to pure dark wave. This combined with ghostly synth notes conjures an instrumentally passive moment in the eighteen track album and one filled with consistency.
“Silence and Distance” should also be mentioned as should “Nine Hours Later”: both are powerful tracks, classic both in sound and mood.
Clearly The Burning Circle and Then Dust is as potent an album now as it was back in 1995. An album bubbling over with haunting song after haunting song while showing early experimentations with sound that would become fleshed out subgenres in later years.
Fans of Goth, Dark wave, Post-punk and Art Rock need look no further then the mastery that was Lycia.
