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Artist: Lost Dawn
Album: Fever
Release date: 5th February 2016
Record Label: Easy Action
With 2016 well underway, I’m sure many will have already began to speculate what music the new year has to offer. For those still hoping to find that new sound to carry them through the remaining winter months, look no further than Cornwall trio, Lost Dawn. Having already released their self-titled debut in April last year, Lost Dawn’s new mini-album, ‘Fever’ certainly illustrates a band that is fast developing into a force ready to shake Britain.
Although ‘Fever’ retains the initial bluesy distortion that graced their debut, the mini-album demonstrates a further exploration of quality sound. Opening track, ‘Electrify’ immediately sets the tone. Perhaps the perfect way to introduce the album, the satisfyingly catchy guitar riff infuses stripped down garage rock with infectious pop and seems to be the ideal formula to get bodies moving.
‘Naked Lunch’ has The Strokes written all over it. Stimulating, story-telling lyrics lie above a throbbing bass line that resonates through the entirety of the track before both breaking down into a frenzy of ferocious vocals.
The title-track and centre point of the album displays the bands newfound diversity. The verse lyrics could easily be mistaken for a lament to the late Lou Reed as they seem to drift almost effortlessly through an ocean of pleasant guitar notation. The middle of the track plays host to what sounds like a Jazz induced instrumental that distinctly salutes its care free, studio-jamming origins.
The tempo regains its stride with the arrival of ‘Construction Rock’. The hip-shaking groove that could have easily been ripped straight out of a 70s rock anthem is accompanied so brilliantly by tongue in cheek lyrics depicting a life working in construction that it’s literally impossible not to start belting out your own version of the vocals.
‘Rasputin’ brings it all back down again. “Rasputin my baby, you know you’re driving me crazy” echoes throughout whilst short bursts of life seem to bounce into the guitar giving the track a kind of suave coolness at chosen intervals.
‘Fever’ finally begins to wave its goodbyes with ‘Águila’.
Clearly heavily influenced by psychedelic notions, the entire song literally feels like a strange dream or out of body experience. The ghostly, thought provoking vocals, “before your life runs out, fill up your lungs and shout” ebb in and out of the pure melodic peacefulness almost like waves as the tide gradually washes the album away from the listener.
Although Lost Dawn has a long way to go on the path to success, the foundations are certainly in place. ‘Fever’ encapsulates the sound of a band that has begun to expand and evolve their initial style into far greater and more complex realms of music, which I have no doubt will result in bringing rewards in the future.
Rating: 4/5