CD Reviews
Instant Lake - Dystodream | Review
Instant Lake - Dystodream
Wave Records
May 2020
From synth wave to martial sounds, Instant Lake released their second full length album, "Dystodream"!
by Cleopatra K.
Originally founded as an experimental duo by Dario Amoroso (synth / drum machine) and Pierluigi Michele Grauso (guitars) in early 2015 in Caserta – Italy, they added in, the same year, Daniele Landolfi (vocals / synth, 100 Club band founder member) and Carlo Landolfi (bass guitar), reaching a more powerful sound.
The first new wave / post-punk oriented online demos earned the attention of some specialized labels. Later on, Brazilian Wave Records signed with them, for an album, and the single "Caustèro" was released (+ video, Dec 2016), followed by the remix "Caustèro Paolo Favati Remix at Blue Velvet" (+ video) and the second single "Sit Back"
(+ video, May 2017), online on bandcamp and YouTube.
The "Refractory" album published by Wave Records is distributed by Audioglobe (worldwide) and Danse Macabre & Al!ve (in Germany).
Available in stores from June 16, 2017 "Refractory" is articulated on the search for obsessive sounds and dark melodies on minimal electronic rhythms.
After the first studio work, "Refractory", Instant Lake returns with a brand new album, "Dystodream", which will be released in triple version, Vinyl-Cd-Digital, once again by the Brazilian label Wave-Records. It is the second album for the quartet of southern Italy with the new formation: Gennaro De Lena (vocals and lyrics), Pierluigi Grauso (guitar and theremin), Carlo Landolfi (bass), and Dario Amoroso ( synth and programming).
Another album that I hold in my hands and it is really worth listening to carefully, from the first to the last track, ''Dystodream'' combines electronic music with a more post punk synth wave version, I could say reminiscent of a more modern era of Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus and many other admirable bands of the genre.
A few bands surprise us this season, one of them are Iinstant lake' with their new album. There are still some musicians out there who love what they do and they do not forget to remind us that what they do, they do it so good. I do not know if there is the right recipe and if everyone makes their own magic potion with music, maybe so a little spontaneity a little emotion and some good musicians arrive to come out with the perfect combination!
Let me start with one of my favorite songs and this is ''Death To Slavery''. The melodic guitars combined with atmospheric beats travel the melancholy mind, the lyrics speak of someone or some people who experience losses, losses that bring nostalgia and loneliness and a thirst to meet their own land again, where they grew up. A song where the lyrics make you think, because maybe something makes you identify your own story. The introduction of this song starts with whispers something like a prayer, the voice of Gennaro De Lena has emotion and that is coming out in all the songs of the album. He is, also, the one who writes the lyrics and that makes him go deep in his role and live every word in this track. Synth and guitars harmonized, and later starring the bass, along with the guitars and the most modern beats, which these are a responsibility of Pierluigi Grauso and Dario Amoroso.
Next track and quite uplifting is ''Trauma'' with a more oriental dark version, loud beat, loud vocals. Starring oriental style and guitars full of distorsion, like the exclamation of the singer ''Strong '' so the verse makes sense to us. You fight with yourself to get out of the rage and that makes you as strong as possible.
"Tirsch", this song is written in German inspired by the book of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, ''Psychopathia Sexualis''. The text is inspired by the story of Tirsch, a fifty-five year old man from Prague, sentenced to 20 years for the attempted rape of a 10 year old girl. his sick psyche that lives on illusion, will deviate towards violence.
The text is symbolic, not descriptive of the facts, but describes the sweetness of the illusion and the violence of its reality.
Favorite tracks ''Death To Slavery'' and 'Ttrauma''!
Info:
https://www.facebook.com/instantlake/
https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w099-instant-lake-dystodream
https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w063-instant-lake-refractory
