Review: Lydia – Assailants

Lydia - Assailants

There’s a lot of things I’d like to say about Lydia, but frankly I don’t think it’s any of your business. And that’s pretty much the point. Few bands create such personal connections within the framework of verse-chorus-bridge tunes. Luckily on Assailants, Leighton Antelman’s catharsis is strong enough for two. Here on the band’s final output, there is lots of reflection; a band doesn’t fall apart for no reason. But the logic within all this emotion is that we are included. The audience’s POV still reigns supreme. And I know that’s what I always say, but I always say it because I feel it’s the most important thing: we must be included. Lydia have written their final act, and we’re all the star.

Read More “Lydia – Assailants”

Review: Lydia – Illuminate

Lydia - Illuminate

Writing about music is about bridging the disconnect. No tone, beat or verse needs an explanation because music is, in itself, an explanation of sound and passion. It’s one of the more common conundrums a music critic faces: How do you illustrate something that is already done and painted? How do you rationalize with words and criticism when the sequences, notes and lines are already aware of what they do, how they work and the desire and despair they employ. 

This is where I sit with Lydia’s sophomore full-length, Illuminate. In fact, I’ve been sitting with this album for weeks, flinging around words like cheap hooker shots. This is my third take (or fourth, if you count that time I attempted to write from an “altered” state) at giving Illuminate a shakedown. Through all these exchanges, there are a several points that I’ve been able to finalize.

Read More “Lydia – Illuminate”