EP Review: Lore City - Under Way
Updated: Oct 22, 2022
Here we have something quite different, a beautifully relaxing and somewhat Gothic chillout from Lore-City. Life can't always be about aggressive vocals, dance floor fillers, and powerful riffs. Sometimes you have to slip on a pair of headphone, put on some smooth ambient chillout and drift off in to a world of peace. If that sounds like what you're looking for right now, come relax with Lore City.
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Lore City is a duo formed in 2011 and currently based in Portland, Oregon.
The Lore City Music publishing imprint was established in 2020 to facilitate the musical releases of Laura Mariposa Williams and Eric Angelo Bessel.
Lore City's EP statement and story provides some insight:
Sometimes, the thing that happens along the way to something else turns out to be the thing in itself; saying to you, "I am not what you thought I was, but rather, I am my own all together." An early departure, announcing its entirety upon arrival. Once thought of as the beginning of the next album, Under Way exists as a standalone 7-inch EP, confined only to the parameters of vinyl. Two sides, two tracks, pressed into another thing in a world on its way to something else...more
Oneness. Whether you like it or not. Creeping up on you. Morse code tapping you on the shoulder. Runoff into the sea. A little bell ringing. Windchimes singing from forces unseen. I wanna believe. I animate these bones, for you. A paper skeleton on Halloween dangling from the front door. Animate, animate. Shuddering and twitching with your comings and goings. The thresholds we know. Everyone in their own little box, moving between containers. Remembering the orange glow of old sodium vapor streetlamps, and simultaneously, the terror of noticing that your heart is constantly beating. The fading roar of airplanes overhead, rerouted. Suddenly you can see the flashing red and white lights out of the corner of your eye, every night, from your bed. - Laura Mariposa Williams
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Review:
There is such a sense of scale and cosmic infinity straight away with 'Animate'. It has that sense of Gothic fantasy, trance like peace, and the sort of spirituality that comes from tribal folk music or religious connection.
Not only that but there is an almost instant sense of relief and stress reduction as the notes continue to grow and compliment one another as the rhythm pans out a steady, beautiful beat. Each piano key brings your sense of self to the present like an echolocator playing notes out on your soul and where you are in the scale of things.
Lyrically this really brings a profound sense of connection towards your fellow man and the cosmos. Some of these lyrics strike a particularly close note with my love of rainfall and reflections of nature..
Duckin' under an awning
While it rains around me
I want to believe
I wanna believe
I can see I am free
Who are we
Who are we
The track has an electronic edge to it that also turns towards the nostalgic, bringing this track into the territory of dreams, be they fantasy or science fiction. I can't quite place why this track feels so good to listen to but it truly does!
Completing this release is the track 'Very Body' which starts off like a binaural beat concentration piece but of course, much better! There is a rotating sound from ear to ear at around the 1.40 mark that adds so much depth and three dimensional layering to the sounds you are experiencing. It's almost like this track has been designed specifically to explore the corners of your mind and make you aware of your ability to expand your mind beyond its skull prison.
It is very dark, peaceful, and fluid, like the safety of a womb or the embrace of a loved one or spirit. I can't quite say what it is that gives it a slight Gothic edge to it all but the sense of it is there. A beautiful piece all round.
If prosperity as a concept had a soundtrack, Under Way would certainly be a contender!
9/10
Please do check out some of the other great track by Lore City if you want a good chillout session!
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