ALBUM REVIEW: I’m Picking Lights In A Field… – Lanayah

Since 2016 LANAYAH have morphed into numerous different forms of themselves; their first full-length album North Pinion, pulled from primarily doom and black metal, later recruiting Ari Brown to infuse synthesisers to help create otherworldly ambience in Forever In May. Returning with their latest offering I’m Picking Lights In A Field…, the band contrast the light and dark more than ever before. 

The opening moments of the album are stirring, in Aspen where frost crunches beneath your feet and a small fire can feel like facing the sun, the icy mood setter hasn’t much more than solemn guitar notes as a guiding light. But suddenly, under the frost is an awful discovery: Insects In Their Immersion. The stillness devolves into panic and dread inducing screams, adopting the hardcore mask of their band, LANAYAH turn into something else completely. Staring Blankly offers the best of both options, where halfway through the band seamlessly move into a gentle lo-fi feel.

It isn’t that LANAYAH are indecisive or that the music lacks identity, there’s a beauty in the two contradicting sound profiles. Their full force approach that is often quickly challenged by delicate and vulnerable interludes mimics what it’s like to be at the peak of your own anger, then slowly succumbing to broken tears. The jumps are so drastic that the intention is clear, to represent turmoil, rage, misery and then the resurrection of someone’s stability. 

Knife, Mirror is as violent as it sounds. Nothing short of sheer force is drawn from the colliding riffs, constant shattering drums and screams that make up the track. It’s a sound that will fill the room absolutely, perfect for drowning out any annoying noise — including the ones that may, or may not, be in your head. Imagine what it sounds like to be inside a bowl of jelly as someone shakes it, that’s the effect that the synthesisers have in Peak And Core. Mellowing grunge takes you to a place where emotions are ten times heavier and the air makes the touch of any surface more intense. 

For the most part, each track really leans into the others and builds on to the next, which is the case for Picking Lights In A Field and Carrying Fire, the prior is another soft track, at which point the trope is starting to burn out, but the latter is an opportunity for a huge defining moment. However, the amount of activity, which makes it feel an awful lot like pointless illegible shoegaze, gives it nothing to be defined by. The first half of the album is gorgeous and so close to being perfect in how palpable it is, but after that it runs out of steam. Growing tired, this could’ve made for a strong EP but LANAYAH collapse in the middle onwards. 

Rating: 6/10

I’m Picking Lights In A Field… is set for release on June 16th via Anima Recordings/Drongo Tapes.

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