Lanterns On The Lake - Live With Royal Northern Sinfonia (2016)

It’s a pointed fact that live albums are a tricky business, if not a flat-out risky one. Orchestral live albums? Urgh. Overblown and highfalutin, they’re too often the errant result of deliriously daft backstage ideas after a band enjoys their rider a little too much, too often. With thin ideas bloated by commercial success, they’re the foie gras of rock. Think Metallica, ELP, and Yes; indulgent doesn’t begin to cover it. In tight times, amidst a forensic focus on social media “reach”, streaming figures, and brand synergy, what sort of act would think that such a baroque and involved treatment of their songs would be a good idea? Step forward Lanterns On The Lake.

Or should that be shuffle? One of the UK’s best purveyors of widescreen dream-pop – and for whom widespread success remains bafflingly elusive – their thoughtful, ornate music reached another apotheosis with last year’s excellent Beings, their third. It also goes hand-in-hand with a low-key, almost apologetic style. So just how did a self-effacing indie band end up blinking into the stage lights at The Sage – a large, purpose-built concert hall and music hub in their native Gateshead – flanked by the august Royal Northern Sinfonia?

“The Sage have been really supportive of us as a local band for a while,” says singer Hazel Wilde. “They put us on in their smaller room in 2011, and we played the main room in 2013 – but I don't think we were quite ready for that. We'd been convinced to do it, and on the day I felt really unconfident about playing, so I drank a bottle of wine and took some beta blockers to ease the nerves. Suffice to say I felt pretty detached from the whole experience. The people at the venue were keen to hear Beings before we'd put it out, so Simon [Raymonde] at Bella Union passed it on to them, then conversations began.”

Tracklist:
01. Lanterns On The Lake - Of Dust And Matter (Live) (05:41)
02. Lanterns On The Lake - Faultlines (Live) (05:17)
03. Lanterns On The Lake - I'll Stall Them (Live) (04:08)
04. Lanterns On The Lake - Send Me Home (Live) (03:01)
05. Lanterns On The Lake - The Crawl (Live) (04:16)
06. Lanterns On The Lake - Stepping Down (Live) (04:27)
07. Lanterns On The Lake - Beings (Live) (07:40)
08. Lanterns On The Lake - Green And Gold (Live) (05:02)
09. Lanterns On The Lake - Stuck For An Outline (Live) (05:17)
10. Lanterns On The Lake - I Love You, Sleepyhead (Live) (09:22)